It has now become something of a cliché to talk of today’s election as the most important since 1994.
But, as with all clichés, there is a kernel of truth in it.
The election could be the first time that the ANC loses its majority in a national election, and while the party will continue to be, by some way, the single biggest party in the country, it won’t have things all its own way. In addition, it is almost a certainty that no party will win more than 50% of the vote in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s two most populous provinces.
The ANC is almost certain to remain locked out of power in the Western Cape. This means that it will not be the majority party in the three provinces which together account for about two-thirds of economic output and about 60% of South Africa’s population.
There is a high likelihood that after the election things will carry on pretty much as they are now, with South Africa being trapped in a pattern of moribund economic growth and with modest reforms around the edges at best. But the psychological blow of an ANC under 50% and significantly weakened in places like Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal cannot be overstated. The ANC will have lost its aura of invincibility. More and more South Africans will realise it is not a betrayal to vote for a party that is not the ANC. Things could change quickly after that.
Despite all the uncertainty, as South Africans we should be grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy that many people around the world do not. We can engage in free political activity, with a low risk of being attacked for our views (but not zero, unfortunately). That is not a given for many people in other countries, especially on this continent. It is something we should cherish.
In addition, our proportional representation electoral system means that your vote counts. In a number of democracies, the electoral system effectively renders many people’s votes useless. Americans go to the polls later this year to vote for a new president; apart from the ballots cast in the handful of swing states, the votes of most people won’t affect the final result. In the United Kingdom, which will vote on 4 July, the first-past-the-post system means that all of the votes cast for losing candidates are discarded. South Africans don’t have that problem.
The Daily Friend doesn’t presume to tell its readers who to vote for. But if you support the ideals this publication promotes – individualism, the free market, non-racialism, and creating a prosperous South Africa that works for all who live in it – then you will choose accordingly, and you will vote well.