General election in South Africa 1994

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of South Africa in 19941999 →

(Share of votes in%)

 %

70

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

62.65

20.39

10.54

2.17

1.73

1.25

0.60

0.67

ANC

NP

IFP

VF

DP

PAC

ACDP

Otherwise.

       

A total of 400 seats

• PAC : 5
• ANC : 252
• DP : 7
• ACDP : 2
• IFP : 43
• NP : 82
• VF : 9

The 1994 general election in South Africa took place from April 26-29, 1994 and was the first election in South Africa to be held under the terms of universal adult suffrage. It thus marked the end of racial segregation through the apartheid policy that had existed in South Africa since the beginning of the 20th century . The election was conducted under the supervision of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

During the three days of the election, millions of people queued in front of the polling stations. A total of 19,726,579 valid votes were counted and 193,081 were considered invalid. The African National Congress under the leadership of Nelson Mandela , whose candidate list of the Trades Union Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) ( Congress of South African Trade Unions ) and the South African Communist Party ( South African Communist Party ) included, fell just short of the two-thirds majority of votes. The leadership of the ANC decided to form a government of national unity together with the former apartheid and governing National Party led by Frederik Willem de Klerk and the Zulu party Inkatha Freedom Party .

April 27th is the national holiday of South Africa as Freedom Day to commemorate this election .

Results of the general election

Mandela in the vote

	Political party	Abbreviation	be right	%	Seats
	African National Congress	ANC	12,237,655	62.65	252
	National Party	NP	3,983,690	20.39	82
	Inkatha Freedom Party	IFP	2,058,294	10.54	43
	Vryheid Front	FF-VF	424,555	2.17	9
	Democratic Party	DP	338.426	1.73	7th
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	PAC	243,478	1.25	5
	African Christian Democratic Party	ACDP	88.104	0.45	2
	Africa Muslim Party	AMP	34,466	0.18
	African Moderates Congress Party	AMCP	27,690	0.14
	Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa	DPSA	19,451	0.10
	Federal Party	FP	17,663	0.09
	Minority front	MF	13,433	0.07
	Sport Organization for Collective Contributions and Equal Rights	SOCCER	10,575	0.05
	African Democratic Movement	ADM	9,886	0.05
	Women's Rights Peace Party	WRPP	6,434	0.03
	Ximoko Progressive Party	XPP	6.320	0.03
	Keep It Straight and Simple Party	KISS	5,916	0.03
	Workers' List Party	WLP	4.169	0.02
	Luso-South African Party	LUSO	3,293	0.02
total			19,533,498	100.00	400

Overall result of the elections for the provincial representatives

	Political party	be right	%	Seats
	African National Congress (ANC)	12.137.307	62.3	266
	National Party (NP)	3,492,467	17.9	82
	Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)	2,047,083	10.5	44
	Vryheidsfront (FF-VF)	639.643	3.3	14th
	Democratic Party (DP)	538,655	2.8	12
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)	271,793	1.4	3
	African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)	117,825	0.6	3
	Minority Front (MF)	48,951	0.3	1
	Africa Muslim Party (AMP)	51,773	0.3
	African Democratic Movement (ADM)	34,233	0.2
	Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa (DPSA)	21,877	0.1
	Islamic Party (IP)	16,762	0.1
	Federal Party (FP)	16,279	0.1
	United People's Front (UPF)	10.123	0.1
	Ximoko Progressive Party (XPP)	8,238	0.0
	Women's Rights Peace Party (WRPP)	7,279	0.0
	Wes-Kaap Federaliste Party (WKFP)	6.337	0.0
	Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International (SA) (WI)	5,481	0.0
	Luso-South African Party (LUSO)	5,423	0.0
	South African Women's Party (SAWP)	2,641	0.0
	Green Party (GRP)	2,611	0.0
	Merit Party (MP)	2,028	0.0
	Right Party (RP)	921	0.0

Web links

• US Department of the Army, South Africa Country Study , The 1994 Elections
• elections.org.za: 1994 National and Provincial Elections
• Proportional representation and alternative systems ( Memento from May 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive )