South Africans begin voting Wednesdayin a general election in which the ruling African National Congress (ANC) isexpected to win. The ruling party, however, faces a stiff challenge fromopposition parties, including the breakaway Congress of the People (COPE).
Thenew party, which was formed by embittered former members of the ANC, claimed itis in the general election to win. But the ANC said its supporters have beenenergized by the emergence of the opposition COPE. Shadrack Gutto is apolitical analyst.
He told VOA the excitement ahead ofTuesday's vote could easily be compared to the excitement after blacks wereallowed to vote for the first time in 1994.
"Thefirst thing is for me to actually decide what time I am going to vote and Iwill vote today," Gutto said. "And it is important for me to vote because I think more thanany other time this is a time which is quite exciting in South Africa in termsof electoral politics. We have - not just in terms of the offer - we have variouspolitical parties participating and therefore the voter is spoiled for choice."
Hesaid campaigns ahead of Tuesday's vote were mostly issue-based.
"Importantlyalso is it is the issues which are in the forefront in terms of what the voterswould have to choose from. So, I would say that today is very exciting and weare looking forward to it and I think the 23 and plus million registered votersare looking forward and they are already casting their votes and they are goingto do so until late in the evening," he said.
Guttodescribed Wednesday's election as significant.
"Ithink that this is one of the critical elections in South Africa. 1994 wasimportant because it was the first time that there was a truly democraticelection in the country where the majority voted and it depended on what themajority decided. It was not a question of really whites voting amongthemselves, a minority deciding to vote to choose minority leadership," Guttosaid.
Hesaid the enthusiasm that ordinary South Africans have shown so far can easilybe comparable to the excitement exhibited when blacks were allowed to vote for thefirst time.
"Ithink this time the excitement is a bit different, but also at the same levelin terms of the pitch," he said.
Gutto said there were indications that theopposition parties would pose a strong challenge to the ruling party in thepoll.
"Today'svoting will be interesting. First of all the main challenger to the ANC I wouldsay is the splinter group which is now the Congress of the People (COPE). Andindeed it knows the ANC inside out both from the liberation movement and ingovernment and so on so the credentials issues don't fit in for the ANC," Guttosaid.
Hesaid the opposition COPE has a Herculean task taking on the ruling party inTuesday's vote.
"Secondly,it is a very new party, which is barely a 100 days old and you are dealing withthe ANC which is almost 100 years old. So it has advantages and disadvantages: too young, no time to organize and so on. The ANC is very old and organized andtherefore one is looking forward to a situation where you are actually measuring thepotential opposition party emerging from zero to something. What will it comeup to?" he asked.
Meanwhile, thepresidential candidate for the ruling ANC Jacob Zuma has called for what hedescribed as a massive turnout to give his party an overwhelming mandate in itstoughest test since the end of apartheid. But the opposition warned SouthAfricans throughout the campaign period that giving the ANC a two-thirdsmajority in Tuesday's election would enable the party to single-handedly amendthe constitution without consultation with the opposition.
Some political analysts saidalthough there are controversies surrounding ANC leader Jacob Zuma, he seems tobe the most popular politician ahead of the general election.
Zuma had eight year-oldgraft charges against him dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)ahead of the election, a decision that infuriated the opposition, which claimedthe NPA caved under political pressure. The opposition believes that thedropping of the charges gave a significant boost to the ANC ahead of the vote.But Zuma and his supporters maintained that the graft charges were politicallymotivated to prevent him from becoming South Africa's next president.
Zuma is, however, expected to become South Africa's nextpresident after the ballots of 23 million South Africans have been counted. Butthe ANC risks losing the two-thirds majority in parliament it needs to changethe constitution in the face of challenge from new opposition party.