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Election 1999: Prospects for the Consolidation of Democracy in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Khehla Shubane  and
Louise Stack
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Extract

The African National Congress (ANC) emerged from South Africa’s 1999 election in a greatly strengthened position. Now, not only is the constitutionally obligatory five-year period of a government of national unity over—which means that the ANC as the majority party is entitled to rule the country on its own—but the ANC increased its already strong majority in Parliament to just short of two-thirds.

In this article, we first discuss the context of the political debate in which the election took place, as well as the outcome of the election. We then examine the prospects for the consolidation of democracy in South Africa in light of the election results and in relation to the issues surrounding electoral procedure, a dominant party system, and opposition politics within the context of a still very much racially divided society.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , 1999 , pp. 2 - 8
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1999 

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References

Notes

1. See, e.g., MarkData Ltd., “Political Party Support Patterns up to July 1998,” press release, 1998, and Mark-Data Ltd., “Opinion ‘99 Survey of October-November 1998: Party Support and Voting Intention (III),” press release, April 29, 1999.

2. Human Sciences Research Council, media release, May 5, 1999; Opinion ‘99, press release, May 24, 1999; Marketing & Media Research survey of May 1999; and MarkData survey of February 1999.

3. Brian Stuart, “Row Over Mokaba Call for Majority,” Citizen, April 29, 1998.

4. Sapa, , “No Strange Moves Being Cooked Up, Mbeki,” Star, December 7 and 14, 1998 Google Scholar.

5. Bratton, Michael, “Second Elections in Africa,” Journal of Democracy 9, no. 3 (July 1998): 51–66 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6. MarkData Ltd., “The Prospects for Participation in the 1999 Elections: Indications from the MarkData Omnibus Survey,” press release, June 1998.

7. Makhudu Sefara, “PAC and Azapo Decry ANC Win in NP,” Sowetan, October 6, 1999.

8. ANC, 1999 —Year of Mass Mobilization for the Renewal of the Democratic Mandate (Johannesburg: ANC, January 8, 1999)Google Scholar.

9. ANC, ANC Election Manifesto, Change Must Go on at a Faster Pacel (Johannesburg: ANC, 1999)Google Scholar.