President
Jacob Zuma announced Friday that South Africa will hold its fifth democratic
general election on May 7, a vote which promises to be the sternest test yet of
the ruling ANC.
The
vote — which will elect a new parliament, and in turn the president — will see
the favoured African National Congress face a phalanx of insurgent opposition
parties who have fastened on to widespread popular unease.
The
ANC is the strong favourite to win the polls but pervasive inequality,
joblessness, corruption and government incompetence have all sullied the
party’s image.
Some
predict its electoral support will fall below 60 percent.
Zuma
himself heads into the election as the ANC’s presidential candidate, with his
own standing significantly reduced.
He
has been beset by a litany of scandals, crowned by the revelation that $20
million of taxpayers’ money was used to refurbish his rural homestead.
This
will also be the first election since the death of Nelson Mandela, the nation’s
founding father, the country’s first democratically elected president and the
ANC’s talismanic leader.
“These
are historic elections as they take place during the 20th anniversary of our
freedom from apartheid bondage,” Zuma said, foreshadowing a campaign that is
expected to focus heavily on ANC’s past glories.
“They
provide an opportunity for us to further consolidate the democracy and freedom
that we worked so hard to achieve, and for which esteemed South Africans such
as former President Nelson Mandela sacrificed life’s comforts for.”
The
ANC will face off against the centrist Democratic Alliance and the left-wing
Economic Freedom Fighters of Julius Malema.
Its
strongest challenge may come in provincial elections, particularly in Gauteng,
the country’s most populous region — which encompasses Johannesburg and
Pretoria.
The
province has been at the centre of a wave of violent protests over the
government’s failure to provide basic services and which have seen as many as
nine protesters allegedly shot dead by police.
No comments:
Post a Comment