The party that led the struggle against apartheid has lost its 30 -year parliamentary majority in South Africa. The African National Congress, or ANC, has enjoyed the same popularity as the Congress in India in the first two decades after independence.
In the recent elections on May 29, the party won just over 40% of the national vote. Previously, its vote shares in the national election never dropped below 50% in South Africa. Its main opponent, Democratic Alliance, got almost 22% of the vote.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s party, MK, received almost 15% and the Marxist -Leninist Economic Freedom Fighters, EFF, was able to secure more than 9% of the votes. It is to be noted that Zuma, who was the president from 2009 -2018 in South Africa, was removed from office following the allegations of corruption and was barred from standing in last month’s elections.
Still, he had a loyal base among poor black South Africans and he made campaign promises to end unemployment and poverty. Let’s have a look at ANC’s decline. In 1994, the ANC, or African National Congress, under anti -apartheid leader Nansal Mandela won South Africa’s first all -race election with 62 .65% of the national vote.
It has since dominated South African politics so much so that its vote share in national elections never dropped below 50%. The party which led the struggle against apartheid enjoyed the same popularity as Congress in India did in the first two decades after independence.
In recent years though, the ANC has declined, the popularity of the ANC has declined steadily and slowly. As per a news report by Indian Express, the political scientist Abdullah Basao wrote that this has happened because many young voters did not live through apartheid and the criteria by which they evaluate the government does not rely on liberation movements. It relies more on health, employment, economic development etc.
