South Africa's ruling party heads for easy victory

The controversial Jacob Zuma will become president. But early counting suggested that voter disillusionment cut the ANC's majority to less than the two-thirds it was hoping for.
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
5:42 AM PDT, April 23, 2009
Reporting from Johannesburg -- South Africa's ruling African National Congress was set for a decisive victory Thursday, ushering in an uncertain new era under controversial president-in-waiting Jacob Zuma.

But the count of the first 6 million votes suggested that disillusionment cut the ANC's majority to about 64%, leaving it short of the two-thirds it was hoping for. It garnered nearly 70% in the last general election in 2004.



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The main opposition party, Democratic Alliance, benefited from the ANC's decline, with about 17% of the vote, up about 5% from its support in 2004. If the result holds as counting continue,s it would vindicate DA leader Helen Zille, who ran a visible, energetic campaign with the slogan "Stop Zuma!" Critics accused her of being too negative.

A new opposition party, the Congress of the People, formed by ANC dissidents opposed to Zuma, won about 8% of the votes just four months after its formation.

Voters queued for hours and ballot papers ran out in some areas Wednesday, despite the fact that the electoral commission printed 30 million ballots for only 23 million registered voters. About 77% of voters turned out.

A two-thirds majority would enable the ANC to change the constitution at will. South Africans see their constitution as one of the most progressive in the world, and opposition parties campaigned heavily to prevent a two-thirds ANC majority.

Zuma's earthy populist appeal won support among poor black voters, but charges of corruption, dropped shortly before the election, caused disquiet among some educated, middle-class voters.

Prosecutors insisted that there was a strong case but dropped it because of external interference in the timing of the charges.

The ANC once again proved its political dominance, as analysts and polls predicted. But if the ANC fails to get a two-thirds majority, it will be difficult for Zuma's supporters to portray him as the party's most popular leader after South Africa's iconic former President Nelson Mandela. Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, won about 70% of the vote in 2004.

A decline in support could also fuel bickering among the pro- and anti-Zuma factions in the bitterly divided ANC. The election result could pave the way for greater co-operation among opposition parties trying to whittle away ANC support in the future.

In South Africa, presidents are voted in by the majority party in parliament, and as party president, Zuma is certain to become national president in the vote next month.

He'll take power as the global recession bites into the economic successes South Africa enjoyed in the past few years, mainly due to the commodities boom.

Zuma will also be under intense pressure to meet public demand for a marked increase in housing, jobs, crime, education and health care.link....