2024 South African general election

General elections were held in South Africa on 29 May 2024 to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the nine provinces. This was the seventh general election held under the conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994. The National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa, was elected by the provincial legislatures on 13 and 14 June after the general election.

Support for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) significantly declined in this election; the ANC remained the largest party but lost the parliamentary majority that it had held since the inaugural post-apartheid election in 1994. The Democratic Alliance (DA) remained in second place with a slight increase. uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a left-wing populist party founded 6 months prior to the election and led by former president Jacob Zuma, came in third place. Several smaller parties received too few votes in the regional constituencies to secure a seat but received enough votes overall to win seats in the National Assembly (based on their allocation of compensatory seats).

On 14 June 2024, the ANC, the DA, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), agreed to form a national unity government, with Cyril Ramaphosa being re-elected President of South Africa.

Background

The election date of 29 May 2024 was declared by the incumbent president Cyril Ramaphosa on 20 February.

Going into the election, polls showed that support for the ANC was declining significantly, leading to expectations of a hung parliament. In the 2021 South African municipal elections, the African National Congress received less than 50% of the total vote for the first time since the end of apartheid, also losing support in the key metros of Tshwane (Pretoria), Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and eThekwini (Durban). The ANC retained control of eThekwini while the Democratic Alliance managed to take control of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni through a majority coalition and a minority coalition respectively, in addition to forming a majority coalition government in Tshwane, which it had governed since 2016.

In early 2023, the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters formed a coalition in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni where the two parties held MMC positions whilst electing a mayor from a minority party. In April 2023, noting the prospects of an ANC/EFF national coalition, the DA leader John Steenhuisen called for "like-minded" parties to join to prevent a "doomsday coalition".

uMkhonto we Sizwe

On 16 December 2023, former president Jacob Zuma announced his departure from the ANC, accusing the party and incumbent president Cyril Ramaphosa of serving as a "proxy for white monopoly capital." He was also noted as calling the ANC "sellouts" and "apartheid collaborators". He also announced establishment of his own political party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), named after the apartheid-era military wing of the ANC. The latter filed a lawsuit against the MK's registration in the Electoral Commission of South Africa, which was dismissed by the Electoral Court of South Africa on 26 March 2024 due to lack of merit. The ANC also plans to file a lawsuit against the party's naming after the historic MK. According to opinion polling, it was suggested that MK could become the kingmakers after the elections.

On 28 March 2024, the Electoral Commission barred Zuma from standing in the election, citing a previous criminal conviction. MK appealed the ruling, with Zuma's lawyers arguing that the conviction was of a civil nature, and the decision was overturned by the Electoral Court on 9 April, permitting Zuma to stand. On 12 April, the Electoral Commission announced that it would approach the Constitutional Court for clarity on section 47(1)(e) of the constitution, the provision used to uphold the initial objection against Zuma. On 30 April, police launched an investigation into whether the MK had forged signatures in order to be able to register for the election. On 20 May, Zuma was ruled ineligible to stand for the election by the Constitutional Court, citing his criminal conviction. He was still allowed to campaign for MK and his name was retained on the ballot as party leader.

Multi-Party Charter

A pre-election agreement called the Multi-Party Charter was signed between the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), ActionSA and three other parties with the aim of presenting a united front against the three-decade rule of the African National Congress (ANC) party and the rise of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK Party) and the Patriotic Alliance (PA). The Spectrum National Party, Ekhethu People's Party and the Unemployed National Party joined the MPC but failed to meet the Independent Electoral Commission's minimum number of signatures required to contest seats in the National Assembly. On 7 October 2023, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) joined the charter. Going into the election, the MPC members represented 112 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly. During the 2024 election, the parties in the charter collectively won 119 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly, increasing the number of seats by seven. On 6 June 2024, ActionSA announced that they would leave the Multi-Party Charter. This decision reduced the charter's seat count from 119 to 113 in the 400-seat National Assembly.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout has declined since the end of apartheid, when 86% of eligible voters turned out. For this election, 27 million people were eligible to vote. Fifty-five percent of them were women, while voter registration was highest among those aged between 30 and 39 years old. Only 58% of the country's registered voters voted in the election.

Electoral system

South Africa has a parliamentary system of government. The president of South Africa is unusual among heads of state of countries with a parliamentary system in that the head of government, who holds executive powers, is titled president and also plays the ceremonial role of head of state.

In June 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled in New Nation Movement NPC v President of the Republic of South Africa that the Electoral Act was unconstitutional to the extent that it did not allow independents to contest national and provincial elections. Since the first elections held under universal suffrage, 400 members elected were elected to the National Assembly by a system of proportional representation with a closed list approach. Two hundred members were elected from national party lists, while the other 200 were elected from provincial party lists in each of the nine provinces. The national list seats were awarded by subtracting seats won at the provincial level from each party's national allocation to generate a maximally proportional result. The Droop quota variant of the largest remainder method was used to allocate seats at both the national and provincial levels. Provincial legislatures were also elected by a system of proportional representation with closed party lists.

In February 2021, home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi appointed a ministerial advisory committee led by Valli Moosa to recommend a new electoral system. While the committee was divided in opinion, a slim majority of members favoured a mixed-member proportional system, with half of the seats elected in single-member constituencies and the other half elected from party lists in one national multi-member constituency. Due to dissatisfaction with the process surrounding the adoption of the Electoral Amendment Bill, a review clause was inserted into the Bill providing for the establishment of the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel. In August 2025, the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel issued its final report recommending reducing the size of constituencies to bring representatives closer to voters.

Regional ballot

The regional ballot is one of the two ballots used in South Africa's national elections, alongside the national ballot. Voters were also presented with a third ballot, a single ballot used for the election of members of the nine provincial legislatures, held on the same day. The regional ballot is used to elect representatives to the National Assembly from each of the country's nine provinces. The regional ballot is proportional, meaning that seats are allocated to parties and independent candidates based on the number of votes received.

National Assembly regional seats: