Who Won South Africa’s Election?

This post was written by TravelPeople on April 23, 2009

– UPDATE– All votes have now been counted and it is now clear who won the South African election. ANC with Jacob Zuma won 65.9% of the votes, which is a huge victory, but not as huge as some expected. The ANC did not get the 2/3 of the votes as they hoped for and would have needed for the mandate to change the constitution. The DA got 16.66% of the votes.

The votes from yesterday are being counted and we should soon know who won the South African presidential election. So far, more than a third of the votes have been counted and it looks very good for the ANC leader, Jacob Zuma, who has more than 65% of the counted votes! This is hardly surprising, though, ANC has been the dominating party ever since the end of apartheid. But with Zuma’s dubious background, I am afraid the ANC is not as good for South Africa as it once was with Mandela in the leading position.

But as I mentioned yesterday in this post about the election in South Africa; Zuma still has the support of Mandela. And I don’t think I have any reason to believe that Mandela is not able to choose the better candidate for South Africa. So, in the end I can’t decide what to think, or what to mean. I have a big problem with the new president elect of South Africa, but knowing that one of the most respected and trusted persons alive, Nelson Mandela, believes Zuma will do a good job. I guess he knows more about the situation than I do.. At least I hope so, because right now I am a bit worried about South Africa’s future.

Anyways, in less than a year I will hopefully move back to Cape Town, and then I will see with my own eyes what is going on down there. Hopefully I will see positive change from last time I was there in 2007.

For more information about the election and the results, you can read cnn’s article:
ANC on course for South Africa landslide - South Africans waited on election results Thursday in a ballot that the ruling African National Congress party appeared on course to win in a landslide.

If you still need more information about the South African election and the different political parties there, you should check out this blog post: South African News Update: Election Results Show ANC In Early Lead

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