South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) surged towards its most dramatic victory election yet today as the country’s voters showed their loyalty to the party that led them out of apartheid.

South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) surged towards its most dramatic victory election yet today as the country’s voters showed their loyalty to the party that led them out of apartheid. With results reported from more than 90% of polling districts, the ANC had just under 70% support nationally, more than enough the ensure the president, Thabo Mbeki, a second term.

The country’s electoral commission must confirm the results of Wednesday’s vote before they are official, but the ANC was leading in all nine provinces.

Despite the resounding nature of the victory, however, a new black elite is changing the face of South African suburbs and boardrooms while millions of others remain in poverty and the gap between rich and poor increases.

“The overwhelming majority of South Africans have given the ANC a decisive mandate to implement programs to fight poverty and create work. We are humbled by the vote of confidence that they have shown in the country’s democracy and in the ANC,” the party said in a statement.

The white-led Democratic Alliance was running a distant second with around 13% of the vote – an improvement on the 9% they got in 1999. But despite a determined effort to woo black voters, gains came mostly at the expense of other parties in a fragmented opposition.

More than 70% of the 20.6 million registered voters cast ballots on Wednesday, according to preliminary estimates. That is a drop from the 89% turnout in 1999, but significantly higher than the turnout in older democracies.

Long queues formed outside polling stations around the country as people of all races voted for a 400-member national assembly that will meet next week to select the president.

Nine provincial assemblies were also elected and will in turn select delegates to the 90-member national council of provinces, parliament’s second chamber.

The new president will be sworn in on April 27, the day South Africa celebrates a decade of multi-racial democracy.

The New National party, the reincarnation of the party that kept South Africa under nearly half a century of apartheid, won less than 2% of the vote, and appears on the road to political obscurity as little more than a regional party.

Only an alliance with its former enemy, the ANC, could still give it a role in national government. The two parties are expected to meet in the coming days to discuss the allocation of positions.

In KwaZulu-Natal province, the ANC’s slight majority might not be enough to form a regional government. A coalition between the Democratic Alliance and Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom party could overtake them.

Opposition parties accuse Mr Mbeki and the ANC of mishandling the country’s Aids crisis, failing to create jobs and neglecting to crackdown on corruption and crime.

But the ANC points to dramatic changes since Nelson Mandela became the first black president in a peaceful 1994 election hailed around the world as a political miracle.

In 10 years of governance, the ANC has built 1.6m houses and brought clean water to 9 million more people. Electricity now flows to 70% of South African homes.

The ANC also has revived an ailing economy, ended the country’s diplomatic isolation and taken a leading role in African affairs.

Associated Press, The Guardian (UK), April 16, 2004