The African National Congress (ANC) steamed towards victory in South Africa's election yesterday, with declared results showing it on course for its biggest win since it toppled apartheid 10 years ago.
Ballots counted from half the country's 17,000 voting stations showed the ANC winning 68.42 percent of the vote against the total 66.35 percent it scored in 1999 and the 63 percent which made Nelson Mandela president in 1994.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Political analysts said the former liberation movement was now virtually guaranteed a two-thirds majority in parliament, which would allow it to amend the Constitution at will.
"Our prediction is the ANC should be at around 69 percent," said Hans Ittmann of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, noting that many traditional ANC strongholds had not yet reported results.
But the ruling party was battling for two key provinces and faced a strengthening challenge from the Democratic Alliance (DA), which campaigned on South Africa's huge problems with AIDS, crime and unemployment after a decade of ANC rule.
The DA, a largely white party which has sought to cement its position as the official opposition, almost doubled its support from the 1999 elections with a total of 14.86 percent of the national vote, according to results so far.
The main loser appeared to be the New National Party (NNP), heir to the grouping that built apartheid, which was at just 2 percent against almost 7 percent in 1999.
"The NNP have caused their own death ... they're on the way out," said Patricia de Lille, whose new Independent Democrat party picked up some of the votes among the NNP's remaining base of mixed-race voters.
"We are excited about the results so far," ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said. "The hurricane is beginning to blow. It's blowing in our favor."
The ANC, now led by President Thabo Mbeki, appeared strong across the country with results putting it ahead in all nine provinces -- albeit in some cases by small margins. Turnout estimates were about 74 percent.
This was below the huge 89 percent in the last poll in 1999 but showed a continuing enthusiasm for multiracial democracy.
Wednesday's vote appeared smooth despite scattered accusations of intimidation and fraud in traditional hotspots and tension in the battleground province of KwaZulu-Natal.
The Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) launched its first challenge to the vote in the province, a move analysts said could raise tensions further in a region which has a long history of political bloodshed. A heavy security presence kept a lid on political tensions in KwaZulu-Natal, where the IFP is fighting to keep the only provincial government under its control.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS