2009 South African general election

2009 South African general election

← 2004 22 April 2009 2014 →

All 400 seats in the National Assembly
201 seats needed for a majority
Registered23,181,997
Turnout77.30% (Increase 0.60pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Jacob Zuma, 2009 World Economic Forum on Africa-9-2.jpg
FIFA welcome with the Premier (cropped).jpg
Mosiuoa Lekota, December 1999.jpg
Leader Jacob Zuma Helen Zille Mosiuoa Lekota
Party ANC DA COPE
Last election 69.69%, 279 seats 12.37%, 50 seats Did not exist
Seats won 264 67 30
Seat change Decrease 15 Increase 17 New party
Popular vote 11,650,748 2,945,829 1,311,027
Percentage 65.90% 16.66% 7.42%
Swing Decrease 3.79pp Increase 4.29pp New party

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
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Patricia de Lille, March 2011.jpg
Bantu Holomisa.png
Leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi Patricia de Lille Bantu Holomisa
Party IFP ID UDM
Last election 6.97%, 28 seats 1.73%, 7 seats 2.28%, 9 seats
Seats won 18 4 4
Seat change Decrease 10 Decrease 3 Decrease 5
Popular vote 804,260 162,915 149,680
Percentage 4.55% 0.92% 0.85%
Swing Decrease 2.42pp Decrease 0.81pp Decrease 1.43pp


President before election

Kgalema Motlanthe
ANC

Elected President

Jacob Zuma
ANC

Election ballot.

General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 2009 to elect members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.[1] These were the fourth general elections held since the end of the apartheid era.

The North Gauteng High Court ruled on 9 February 2009 that South African citizens living abroad should be allowed to vote in elections.[2] The judgment was confirmed by the Constitutional Court on 12 March 2009, when it decided that overseas voters who were already registered would be allowed to vote.[3] Registered voters who found themselves outside their registered voting districts on election day were also permitted to vote for the national ballot at any voting station in South Africa.

The result was a victory for the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which won 264 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly, a fifteen seat reduction compared to the 2004 elections and losing its two-thirds supermajority. ANC leader Jacob Zuma became president.

  1. ^ Motlanthe sets election date Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine IOL.co.za, 10 February 2009
  2. ^ "Court backs S Africa expat vote". BBC News. 9 February 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  3. ^ South African registered overseas voters can vote - People's Daily Online