South African general election, 2004

Infobox Election
election_name = South African general election, 2004
country = South Africa
type = parliamentary
ongoing = no
previous_election = South African general election, 1999
previous_year = 1999
next_election = South African general election, 2009
next_year = 2009
seats_for_election = All 400 seats to the National Assembly of South Africa
election_date = 14 April 2004

leader1 = Thabo Mbeki
party1 = African National Congress
leaders_seat1 = National (Party-list)
last_election1 = 266 seats, 66.35%
seats1 = 279
seat_change1 = +13
popular_vote1 = 10,880,915
percentage1 = 69.69%
swing1 = +3.34%

leader2 = Tony Leon
party2 = Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
leaders_seat2 = National (Party-list)
last_election2 = 38 seats, 9.56%
seats2 = 50
seat_change2 = +12
popular_vote2 = 1,931,201
percentage2 = 12.37%
swing2 = +2.81%

title = President
before_election = Thabo Mbeki
before_party = African National Congress
after_election = Thabo Mbeki
after_party = African National Congress

Legislative elections were held in South Africa on Wednesday, 14 april 2004. The African National Congress (ANC) of President Thabo Mbeki, which has been in power since the end of the apartheid system in 1994, was re-elected with an increased majority.

These were the third elections held since the end of the apartheid era. The South African National Assembly consists of 400 members, elected by proportional representation. Two hundred members are elected from national party lists, the other 200 are elected from party lists in each of the nine provinces. The President of South Africa is chosen by the National Assembly after each election.

The ANC, which has been in power since 1994, obtained 69.7% of votes cast on the national ballot, theoretically allowing them to change the constitution — though they have pledged not to. About 56% of eligible voters took part in the election, with the ANC receiving support from about 38% of all eligible voterscite web|url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/580/580p18.htm |title=South Africa: A disillusioned democracy |accessdate=2006-09-21 |last=McKinley |first=Dale T. |date=2004-04-29 |work=Green Left Weekly ] .

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, also obtained an increased percentage on the national ballot, most likely from former supporters of the New National Party, possibly losing some support to Patricia de Lille's new Independent Democrats. The New National Party, a descendant of the ruling party of the apartheid era, lost most of their support, dropping from 6.9% in 1999 to 1.7% (it was 20.4% in 1994), many of their supporters being unhappy with their alliance with the ANC. The Independent Democrats surprised many observers by obtaining more votes than the New National Party, becoming the fifth largest party. The Inkatha Freedom Party lost some support, including the majority in their stronghold province of Kwazulu-Natal, while the United Democratic Movement also lost support, barely hanging on as opposition in their stronghold, the Eastern Cape.

Final results

Contested seat

The first official results were successfully challenged by the ACDP, resulting in them gaining one of the two seats previously awarded to AZAPO. Thus AZAPO only got one seat. [http://independent.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=qw1086105781844B216]

Corruption allegations

South African national police commissioner Jackie Selebi told the South African Parliamentary "ad hoc" committee on safety and security that the police had arrested a group of people alleged to have links with Al-Qaida five days before the elections suspected to be trying to disrupt the election. Work by the South African police service led to the arrests of people in Jordan, Syria, and the United Kingdom. Quantities of South African passports were found in London indicating corruption in the Department of Home Affairs [http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,2172,80595,00.html/1]

References

External links

* [http://www.elections.org.za/Elections2004_Static.asp Official IEC election results]
* [http://electionresources.org/za/2004/ South African general election, 2004 on electionresources.org]
* [http://www.sabcnews.com/Features/ERS/NationalAssembly_national_percent Election results from the South African Broadcasting Corporation]