Legislative Election in South Africa (1994)

	← 1989 1999 →
Parliamentary elections in South Africa
1994 year
April 26 - 29
Voter turnout	86.9%
	; The results of the elections to the National Assembly of the Provinces. Light shade indicates a relative majority of votes
	; National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa (1994). ANC NP PSI FS Dp
Election result	The African National Congress won a landslide victory, gaining 63% of the seats in the National Assembly. Nelson Mandela is elected President of South Africa .

The 1994 parliamentary elections in the Republic of South Africa were held on April 26-29 . These were the first elections in the history of the country in which citizens of all races could participate, and, therefore, also the first elections with universal suffrage for adult citizens. The elections were led by the (IEC) and culminated in a four-year process that ended . Simultaneously with the parliamentary elections were held in the legislative assemblies of all ten provinces of South Africa .

For four days, 19 726 579 people took part in the voting. As expected, the African National Congress (ANC), which included the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Communist Party of South Africa , won a crushing victory, gaining almost 63% of the vote, that is, only slightly less than the two-thirds majority needed for unilateral amendments to the . As required by this document, the ANC formed a government of national unity with the former ruling National Party and the Incata Freedom Party , each of which received more than 20 seats in the National Assembly . The first act of the new South African parliament was the election of the long-standing leader of the movement against apartheid Nelson Mandela as president , making him the first black head of state in South African history.

April 27 is now , the official public holiday in South Africa .

Content

Results

National Assembly

400 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of the South African parliament, were elected by party list in proportion to the share of each party in the national vote.

Results of the elections to the National Assembly April 26 - 29, 1994 ^[3]
The consignment	Leader	Vote	%	Places	%
African National Congress	Nelson Mandela	12,237,655	62.65	252	63.00
National party	Frederic de Clerk	3 983 690	20.39	82	20.50
Incata Freedom Party	Mangosutu butlesi	2 058 294	10.54	43	10.75
Freedom front	Constand Filyun	424 555	2.17	9	2.25
Democratic Party		338,426	1.73	7	1.75
		243,478	1.25	five	1.25
	Kenneth Mesh	88 104	0.45	2	0.50
	Imtiaz Suleman	34,466	0.18	0	0
African Mild Congress Party		27,690	0.14	0	0
	Kenneth Mpopeli	19 451	0.10	0	0
Federal party		17 663	0.09	0	0
Minority front		13 433	0,07	0	0
Sports Organization for Collective Cooperation and Equal Rights		10 575	0.05	0	0
African Democratic Movement		9,886	0.05	0	0
Women's Peace Party		6,434	0,03	0	0
		6,320	0,03	0	0
	Claire Geysford	5 916	0,03	0	0
	Neville Alexander	4 169	0.02	0	0
Luzu - South African Party		3,293	0.02	0	0
Total		19 533 498	100.00	400	100.00
		193 112

Senate

90 Senate members were elected, 10 from each province by the newly elected provincial legislatures. Senate seats in each province were distributed in proportion to the representation of parties in the provincial legislature.

Distribution of seats in the Senate following the results of the provincial elections of April 26–29, 1994 ^[4]
The consignment		VC	FS	G	KN	VT	Sz	SC	ST	ZK	Total
	African National Congress	9	eight	6	3	eight	eight	five	ten	3	60
	National party	one	one	2	one	one	one	four		6	17
	Incata Freedom Party				five						five
	Freedom front		one	one		one	one	one			five
	Democratic Party			one	one					one	3
Total		ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	90

In 1997, after the adoption of the final Constitution to replace the interim, the Senate was transformed into the National Council of Provinces ; its political composition remained the same, but the members were divided into permanent and special delegates, as described in the following table.

Initial distribution of delegates to the National Provincial Council upon adoption of the new Constitution on February 4, 1997 ^[5]
The consignment		Delegate Type	VC	FS	G	KN	VT	Sz	SC	ST	ZK	Total
	African National Congress	Permanent	five	four	3	one	four	four	3	6	2	32	60
	African National Congress	Special	four	four	3	2	four	four	2	four	one	28	60
	National party	Permanent	one	one	one	one	one	one	2		3	eleven	17
	National party	Special			one				2		3	6	17
	Incata Freedom Party	Permanent				3						3	five
	Incata Freedom Party	Special				2						2	five
	Freedom front	Permanent		one	one		one	one	one			five
	Democratic Party	Permanent			one	one					one	3
Total			ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	ten	90

Provincial Election

Members of provincial legislatures were elected on party lists in proportion to the share of each party in the vote. The following table summarizes the result, showing only the parties that have won at least one place. The majority party in each legislature is in bold.

Summary of seat allocation for provincial legislative elections April 26–29, 1994
The consignment		VC	FS	G	KN	VT	Sz	SC	ST	ZK
	African National Congress	48	24	50	26	25	26	15	38	14
	National party	6	four	21	9	3	3	12	one	23
	Incata Freedom Party			3	41
	Freedom front		2	five		2	one	2	one	one
	Democratic Party	one		five	2			one		3
		one		one	one
				one	one					one
	Minority front				one
Total		56	thirty	86	81	thirty	thirty	thirty	40	42

The following tables detail the results in each province.

Eastern Cape

Election Results for the Legislative Body of the Eastern Cape on April 26–29, 1994 ^[6]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	2 453 790	84.35	48
	National party	286 029	9.83	6
	Democratic Party	59,644	2.05	one
		59 475	2.04	one
	Freedom front	23 167	0.80	0
		14 908	0.51	0
	Incata Freedom Party	5050	0.17	0
	African Democratic Movement	4815	0.17	0
	Decent party	2028	0,07	0
Total		2 908 906	100.00	56
		13,248

Free state

Legislative Election of the Free State Province April 26–29, 1994 ^[7]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	1,037,998	76.65	24
	National party	170 452	12.59	four
	Freedom front	81 662	6.03	2
		24,451	1.81	0
		17,024	1.26	0
	Democratic Party	7664	0.57	0
	Incata Freedom Party	6935	0.51	0
		6072	0.45	0
	African Democratic Movement	2008	0.15	0
Total		1,354,266	100.00	thirty
		10,286

Gauteng

Gauteng Province Legislative Election Results April 26–29, 1994 ^[8]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	2 418 257	57.60	50
	National party	1 002 540	23.88	21
	Freedom front	258 935	6.17	five
	Democratic Party	223 548	5.32	five
	Incata Freedom Party	153 567	3.66	3
		61 512	1.47	one
		25 542	0.61	one
	Federal party	16,279	0.39	0
		12,888	0.31	0
	Women's Peace Party	7279	0.17	0
	Luzu - South African Party	5423	0.13	0
		4853	0.12	0
	African Democratic Movement	4352	0.10	0
		3275	0.08	0
Total		4 198 250	100.00	86
		25 383

Kwazulu Natal

Results of the Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Legislature April 26–29, 1994 ^[9]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	Incata Freedom Party	1 844 070	50.32	41
	African National Congress	1 181 118	32,23	26
	National party	410 710	11.21	9
	Democratic Party	78 910	2.15	2
	Minority front	48 951	1.34	one
		26 601	0.73	one
		24,690	0.67	one
	Freedom front	18 625	0.51	0
		17 931	0.49	0
	African Democratic Movement	8092	0.22	0
	Workers International for the restoration of the 4th International	4626	0.13	0
Total		3 664 324	100.00	81
		39,369

East Transvaal

Results of the legislative elections for the East Transvaal province on April 26–29, 1994 ^[10]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	1,070,052	80.69	25
	National party	119 311	9.00	3
	Freedom front	75 120	5.66	2
		21,679	1,63	0
	Incata Freedom Party	20,147	1,52	0
	Democratic Party	7437	0.56	0
		6339	0.48	0
	African Democratic Movement	5062	0.38	0
	Right party	921	0,07	0
Total		1,326,068	100.00	thirty
		12 631

At the time of the election, the province was called East Transvaal; It received its modern name (Mpumalanga) on August 24, 1995.

North West Province

Legislative Results of the Northwest Province April 26–29, 1994 ^[11]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	1,310,080	83.33	26
	National party	138 986	8.84	3
	Freedom front	72,821	4.63	one
		27,274	1.73	0
	Democratic Party	7894	0.50	0
	Incata Freedom Party	5948	0.38	0
		5 570	0.35	0
	African Democratic Movement	3569	0.23	0
Total		1,572,142	100.00	thirty
		18 974

North Cape

The results of the legislative elections of the Northern Cape on April 26–29, 1994 ^[12]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	200 839	49.74	15
	National party	163,452	40,48	12
	Freedom front	24 117	5.97	2
	Democratic Party	7567	1.87	one
		3765	0.93	0
	Incata Freedom Party	1688	0.42	0
		1610	0.40	0
	African Democratic Movement	734	0.18	0
Total		403,772	100.00	thirty
		3,534

Northern Transvaal

The Results of the Elections to the Legislature of the Province of Northern Transvaal April 26–29, 1994 ^[13]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	African National Congress	1 759 597	91.63	38
	National party	62,745	3.27	one
	Freedom front	41 193	2.15	one
		24 360	1.27	0
	United front	10 123	0.53	0
		7363	0.38	0
		4963	0.26	0
	Democratic Party	4021	0.21	0
	African Democratic Movement	3662	0.19	0
	Incata Freedom Party	2233	0.12	0
Total		1 920 260	100.00	40
		13 702

At the time of the election, the province was called Northern Transvaal; It got its modern name (Limpopo) in 2003.

Western Cape

Results of the legislative elections of the Western Cape on April 26–29, 1994 ^[14]
The consignment		Vote	%	Places
	National party	1,138,242	53.25	23
	African National Congress	705 576	33.01	14
	Democratic Party	141 970	6.64	3
	Freedom front	44,003	2.06	one
		25,731	1.20	one
		22,676	1.06	0
		20 954	0.98	0
	Islamic party	16,762	0.78	0
	Incata Freedom Party	7445	0.35	0
	West Cape Federalist Party	6337	0.30	0
	South African Women's Party	2641	0.12	0
		2611	0.12	0
	African Democratic Movement	1939	0.09	0
	Workers International for the restoration of the 4th International	855	0.04	0
Total		2 137 742	100.00	42
		10 714

Organization and Counting

Incata Freedom Party joined the election campaign late and was added to the already printed ballot papers with a sticker. ^[15]

In rural areas with poorly developed infrastructure, people spent several days in line to vote. ^[15]

Steven Friedman, who led the Independent Electoral Commission’s information analysis department during the 1994 election, said Sunday Independent in an article on the 20th anniversary of the election said that the lack of voter lists made it difficult to verify election results, leading to numerous allegations of fraud. ^[15] Friedman described the election as “a technical disaster, but a political triumph,” noting that the final results were the result of an agreed compromise rather than an accurate count of the votes cast, since it is impossible to get an accurate result under similar circumstances of the election. He believes that the victory of the Incata Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal Province allowed the National Party to get 20% of the vote and the position of vice president; while preventing the ANC from gaining a two-thirds majority with the possibility of unilaterally writing a new constitution, thereby preventing a civil war. ^[15]

Notes

↑ A look back at national election results (inaccessible link) . BrandSouthAfrica.com (May 8, 2014). Date accessed August 2, 2019. Archived May 12, 2019.
↑ The South African general elections: 1994 . South African History Online (February 27, 2014). Date of treatment August 2, 2019. Archived July 4, 2014.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Republic of South Africa Totals: National Assembly . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment August 2, 2019. Archived July 8, 2012.
↑ Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 , Schedule 6: "Transitional Arrangements" , item 7.
↑ Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 , Schedule 6: "Transitional Arrangements" , item 7.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Eastern Cape . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Free State . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Gauteng . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - KwaZulu-Natal . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Mpumalanga . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - North West . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Northern Cape . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Limpopo . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.
↑ April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Western Cape . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 13, 2010.
↑ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ The Sunday Independent. The bargain that saved us in 1994 . IOL.co.za (April 27, 2017). Date accessed August 2, 2019. Archived November 7, 2018.

Links

US Department of the Army, South Africa Country Study , " The 1994 Elections "
IEC results for 1994 election
Proportional representation and alternative systems

[Brand-1] A look back at national election results (inaccessible link) . BrandSouthAfrica.com (May 8, 2014). Date accessed August 2, 2019. Archived May 12, 2019.

[sahistory-2] The South African general elections: 1994 . South African History Online (February 27, 2014). Date of treatment August 2, 2019. Archived July 4, 2014.

[3] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Republic of South Africa Totals: National Assembly . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment August 2, 2019. Archived July 8, 2012.

[4] Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 , Schedule 6: "Transitional Arrangements" , item 7.

[5] Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 , Schedule 6: "Transitional Arrangements" , item 7.

[6] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Eastern Cape . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[7] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Free State . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[8] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Gauteng . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[9] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - KwaZulu-Natal . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[10] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Mpumalanga . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[11] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - North West . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[12] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Northern Cape . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[13] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Limpopo . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 14, 2010.

[14] April 26-29, 1994 General Election Results - Western Cape . Election Resources on the Internet . Date of treatment December 13, 2010.

[Iol-15] ¹ ² ³ ⁴ The Sunday Independent. The bargain that saved us in 1994 . IOL.co.za (April 27, 2017). Date accessed August 2, 2019. Archived November 7, 2018.

Parliamentary elections in South Africa
← 1989 1999 →
1994 year
April 26 - 29
Voter turnout	86.9% ^[1] ^[2]


Party head	Nelson Mandela	Frederic de Clerk	Mangosutu butlesi
The consignment	African National Congress	National party	Incata Freedom Party
Seats received	252 ( ▲ 252)	82 ( ▼ 8)	43 ( ▲ 43)
Votes	12,237,655 (62.65%)	3 983 690 (20.39%)	2 058 294 (10.53%)
Change in the percentage of votes	▲ 62.65 pp	▼ 27.81 p.p.	▲ 10.54 pp
Past number of seats	Well	94	Well


Party head	Constand Filyun
The consignment	Freedom front	Democratic Party
Seats received	9 ( ▲ 9)	7 ( ▼ 26)	5 ( ▲ 5)
Votes	424 555 (2.17%)	338,426 (1.73%)	243,478 (1.25%)
Change in the percentage of votes	▲ 2.17 p.	▼ 18.27%	▲ 1.25 pp
Past number of seats	Well	33	Well
The results of the elections to the National Assembly of the Provinces. Light shade indicates a relative majority of votes
National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa (1994). ANC NP PSI FS Dp

Election result	The African National Congress won a landslide victory, gaining 63% of the seats in the National Assembly. Nelson Mandela is elected President of South Africa .