27 April 1994 1999 → 82 43 3,983,690 2,058,294 Start date April 27, 1994 | 252 82 12,237,655 3,983,690 62.65% 20.39% | |
Winner Nelson Mandela | ||
General elections were held in South Africa on 27 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal adult suffrage. The election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), and marked the culmination of the four-year process that ended apartheid.
Contents
Millions queued in lines over a three-day voting period. Altogether 19,726,579 votes were counted and 193,081 were rejected as invalid. As widely expected, the African National Congress (ANC), whose slate incorporated the labour confederation COSATU and the South African Communist Party, won a sweeping victory, taking 62 percent of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority required to unilaterally amend the Interim Constitution. As required by that document, the ANC formed a Government of National Unity with the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party, the two other parties that won more than 20 seats in the National Assembly. The new National Assembly's first act was to elect Nelson Mandela as President, making him the country's first black chief executive.
The date 27 April is now a public holiday in South Africa, Freedom Day.
National Assembly
The 400 members of the National Assembly were chosen from party lists in proportion to each party's share of the national ballot.
Senate
The 90 members of the Senate were chosen, 10 from each province, by the newly elected provincial legislatures. Each province's Senate seats were allocated in proportion to the parties' representation in the provincial legislature.
In 1997, on the adoption of the final Constitution, the Senate became the National Council of Provinces; its political makeup remained the same, but members were divided into permanent and special delegates, as described in the following table.
Provincial legislature results
Members of the provincial legislatures were elected from party lists in proportion to each party's share of the provincial ballot. The following table summarises the result, showing only parties that won at least one seat. The majority party in each legislature is indicated in bold.
The following tables detail the results in each province.
Security
Denel Dynamics Seeker unmanned aerial vehicles were used to monitor the elections.
Legacy
The election was commemorated on its 20th anniversary due to its historic importance.