At stake in this election:

• 400 seats in the National Assembly

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Nelson MANDELA
• Head of Government: President Nelson MANDELA
• Assembly: South Africa has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Council of Provinces with 90 seats and the National Assembly with 400 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by the National Assembly to serve a 5-year term.
• In the National Council of Provinces 90 members are nominated by regional legislatures to serve 5-year terms*. In the National Assembly 400 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.**

* There is an additional, non-voting 10-member delegation from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

** The PR tier is broken into a national list and regional lists. In the regional tier there are 9 multi-member districts, each corresponding to a province, with seats allocated in proportion to population. In both tiers, the electoral system is closed list proportional representation.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: African National Congress (ANC)
  • Leader: Thabo M. MBEKI
• Party: Democratic Party (DP)
  • Leader: Tony LEON
• Party: Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
  • Leader: Mangosuthu BUTHELEZI
• Party: New National Party (NNP)
  • Leader: Marthinus VAN SCHALKWYK
• Party: United Democratic Movement (UDM)*****
  • Leader: Bantu HOLOMISA, Roelf MEYER
• Party: African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)
  • Leader: Kenneth R. J. MESHOE
• Party: Vryheidsfront / Freedom Front (VF/FF)
• Party: United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP)
• Party: Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)
• Party: Other parties
   

***** UDM was formed since the last election.

Last Parliamentary election:

• Elections to the National Assembly were last held on April 26-29, 1994.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 42,923,485 (1999)
• Registered Voters: 18,177,000 (1999)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 21,787,409 (1999)

·         Is South Africa a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (29 January 1993)

·         Has South Africa ratified CEDAW: Yes (15 December 1995)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 120 (National Assembly); 17 (National Council) following the 1999 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 116 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is South Africa a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has South Africa ratified CRPD: Yes (30 November 2007)

·         Population with a disability: 6,438,522 (est.)