IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: South Africa

57,516,665	7
Population (as of Feb. 17, 2023)	Elections in our database
27,698,197	76.57%
Registered Voters (as of April 11, 2024)	Average Turnout

Name	Official Name	Type
South African National Council of Provinces		Upper House
South African National Assembly		Lower House
South African Presidency	None	Head of State & Government

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Matamela Cyril RAMAPHOSA
Head of Government: President Matamela Cyril RAMAPHOSA
Assembly: 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 indirectly elected by the National Assembly and may serve up to two 5-year terms.
In the National Council of Provinces, 90 members are appointed by regional legislatures (6 permanent delegates and 4 special delegates per region) to serve 5-year terms *.
In the National Assembly, 200 members are elected in multi-seat constituencies and an additional 200 are elected in a nationwide constituency. All 400 members are directly elected via proportional representation vote to serve 5-year terms.

* The party composition of each provincial delegation must proportionally reflect the party representation in the provincial legislature.

Election For	Date	Votes	Registered Voters	Turn Out
South African National Assembly	1999-06-02	16,228,462	18,172,751	89.3
South African National Assembly	2004-04-14	15,863,554	20,674,926	76.73
South African Presidency	2004-04-24	-	20,674,926	-
South African National Assembly	2009-04-22	17,919,996	23,181,997	77.3
South African National Assembly	2014-05-07	18,654,457	25,362,023	73.55
South African National Assembly	2019-05-08	17,671,616	26,779,025	65.99
South African National Assembly	2024-05-29	-	27,698,197	-

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