Parliamentary Elections Commences in South Africa

South Africans have commenced voting today (May 8) for Provincial and Parliamentary officials who will eventually vote in the President at the National Assembly.

The South African electoral system does not allow citizens to vote directly for the president, but the prerogative lies with members of the National Assembly to do the voting who will be sworn in on May 25. Initial results are expected to emerge by Thursday while the official winner will be declared on Saturday.

About 26.8 million people registered to take part in the voting exercise at the 22,925 polling units. Polls opened at 7am (0500 GMT) and close 14 hours later.

Although political analysts predict that there could be a turn in tide against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) over corruption allegations, however the party is still expected to take a majority of the 400 seats in the parliament as the party has won all six parliamentary elections since the end of apartheid rule in 1994.

President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans to go out and vote “and exercise our hard won democratic right…”  Voting locations open at 7h00 and close at 21h00.

“I urge you to come out as early as possible today to cast your vote. Do not leave it to the last minute,” Ramaphosa added.

The nine provinces in South Africa are Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Guateng, Kwa-Zulu, Free State, Limpopo, Western Cape and Natal, North West.

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