South African Election of 1994

  South African Election of 1994

By Harper E./2A

              In April of 1994, South Africa held their first national and provincial elections, in which adults of all races were eligible to vote. This election was the end of decades of protests for complete adult suffrage, and end to the four-year transition from apartheid. Differing from previous years, nineteen political parties participated during the 1994 election. In the apartheid-era there were only three main parties: National Party, Democratic Party, and the Conservative Party. Many new parties emerged in this election such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
             South African voters were given two ballots, which allowed them to vote twice at the national and provincial levels. Different from American democracy, voters cast their ballot for a political party, instead of for a particular candidate. The political party would then represent the people at the National Assembly and the provincial legislature.
             There was a total of 21.7 million eligible voters, 16 million of those had never voted before. Unlike other elections, there was no formal voter registry. Instead, people showed their identity books to prove their citizenship. With this informal system set up, 2.5 million blacks did not have identity books in order to prove their citizenship.
             Due to the fact that so many citizens had never voted before, the political parties faced many obstacles. They went through efforts to educate the electorate about the candidates, issues, and the basics of democracy. Their goal was to create a well informed public to further enhance the amount of people who would actually vote. There was also a lot of political violence that was intimidating the potential voters. For example, ANC supports were being hassled and harassed by security leaders. Intimidation filled the streets and towns in all areas of South Africa from ANC being harassed by security leaders to ANC supports frightened IFP and NP supporters.
             The voter turnout was 19,726,579 ballots, however 193,081 were considered invalid. The ANC won the majority of the vote by winning 62% of the popular vote. This won them 252 seats in the National Assembly. Six other parties won seats in the National Assembly, which include the NP with 82 seats and the IFP with 43 seats. The ANC also won the majority in seven other provincial legislatures. As their first matter of business, the National Assembly elected Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. This in turn made him the first black president and the first leader of South Africa’s multi-racial democratic system. He would hold that position until 1999, when Thabo Mbeki succeeded him.
             Personally, the vast amount of differences between Democracy and Elections in South Africa and America is something I find very intriguing. Speaking only to the 1994 election, it all seemed a little informal but completely revolutionary. In 1989, the last election before the end of apartheid, only 3,120,104 voters were registered. There was a remarkable difference in the number of registered voters by at least 16 million. This means that 16 million more people voted than just 5 years previously. The whole way our general campaign functions is candidate centralized functions and efforts, with a main goal to get that individual elected. However in South Africa, the parties campaign is focused on getting a majority of the seats in the National Assembly without running a specific candidate.
             I recommend future reading such as Launching Democracy in South Africa: The First Open Election, April 1994 or any other readings that highlight the election specifically. I also recommend researching into the inequality in the former apartheid government and their modern day democracy.
             This election represented the end to a long united effort against apartheid, and is marked by universal adult suffrage. This election brings on the new age of South Africa, a fresh non-segregated democratic start, after decades of a corrupt government. A new age that has been long over due for the people of South Africa.


South African citizens in line to vote on Freedom Day in the 1994 election.

Biblography

Byrnes, Rita M. "South Africa - The 1994 Elections." South Africa - The 1994 Elections. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/77.htm>.