South Africans head for polls
Thursday, 23 April 2009
South Africans are voting in what is likely to be the most competitive general election since the end of apartheid in 1994, reports BBC.
Many voters were wrapped in blankets, hats and scarves on a chilly day and turned out hours before booths opened.
The ruling ANC - led by Jacob Zuma - is expected to win, but it could lose its two-thirds majority in parliament which allows it to change the constitution.
Among its rivals is a new party - Congress of the People (Cope) - formed by a group who split from the ANC last year when ex-President Thabo Mbeki was replaced as leader.
Some 20,000 polling stations are being used for the more than 23 million registered voters.
Many voters arrived hours before polling stations opened - some wrapped in blankets, clutching mugs of hot drinks.
Former leader Thabo Mbeki cast his vote in Johannesburg, but did not confirm widespread speculation that he would support Cope.
"People should vote for who they want, not out of fear, but for the party they believe will deliver the South Africa they want," he said.
In a polling station queue leader of the official opposition Democratic Alliance party, Helen Zille, told the BBC that South Africans needed to "stop Zuma to save the constitution".
Many voters were wrapped in blankets, hats and scarves on a chilly day and turned out hours before booths opened.
The ruling ANC - led by Jacob Zuma - is expected to win, but it could lose its two-thirds majority in parliament which allows it to change the constitution.
Among its rivals is a new party - Congress of the People (Cope) - formed by a group who split from the ANC last year when ex-President Thabo Mbeki was replaced as leader.
Some 20,000 polling stations are being used for the more than 23 million registered voters.
Many voters arrived hours before polling stations opened - some wrapped in blankets, clutching mugs of hot drinks.
Former leader Thabo Mbeki cast his vote in Johannesburg, but did not confirm widespread speculation that he would support Cope.
"People should vote for who they want, not out of fear, but for the party they believe will deliver the South Africa they want," he said.
In a polling station queue leader of the official opposition Democratic Alliance party, Helen Zille, told the BBC that South Africans needed to "stop Zuma to save the constitution".