Zuma set for win but ANC could lose key majority

SOUTH Africans were going to the polls today in an election widely seen as the most important test of the ANC's hold on power since apartheid ended 15 years ago.

The ruling party, headed by Jacob Zuma, is virtually assured a fourth straight win since defeating white minority rule under Nelson Mandela in 1994 and Mr Zuma is expected to be voted in as president this evening.

But the ANC faces an unprecedented challenge from opposition parties hoping to capitalise on voter frustration over corruption, poverty and rampant crime. Some analysts warn that the party could lose the two-thirds majority that gives it the right to change the constitution and entrench its power further.

Polling stations opened at 7am with just over 23million people eligible to vote in national and provincial elections in Africa's biggest economy. Voters began queuing before dawn.

The election is being described as the first of the post-apartheid era: many of the new voters are young people who have little memory of the struggle to end white minority rule, which brought the ANC to power.

Observers believe the ANC, whose anti-apartheid credentials make it the choice for millions of black voters, will win between 60 and 66 per cent of the vote. One key challenge comes from a new party formed by those loyal to former President Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted by the ANC amid allegations that he meddled in a corruption case against Mr Zuma. The charges were dropped on a technicality.

The first credible black opposition to the ANC, the Congress of the People party (COPE) appears to have some support among South Africa's growing black middle class, but has faltered as it struggles to win over the poor majority. Mr Zuma said the emergence of the opposition party had "re-energised" the ANC. Speaking on the eve of the vote, he said there was an energy and excitement about the contest which had not been seen the country's first democratic election 15 years ago.

Cope has fielded a relatively unknown presidential candidate, former Bishop Mvume Dandala, who has struggled to make an impact on the public scene, analysts say.

Polls close at 9pm local time.

Ruling party faces upstart rival

The African National Congress has been the ruling party in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The party, which defines itself as a "disciplined force of the Left", was riven by splits after Jacob Zuma beat Thabo Mbeki in a leadership race in 2007. Within days Mr Zuma was indicted on corruption charges but they were dismissed on procedural grounds last year, and the ANC responded by firing Mr Mbeki as the nation's president. Mr Zuma has since gained further kudos after Nelson Mandela, who is embraced as an elder statesman by South Africans, appeared alongside him at the ANC's last major election rally.

After Mbeki's departure as president last year the Mbeki faction of former ministers led by Mosiuoa Lekota split away from the ANC to form the Congress of the People (Cope). Cope is the first credible black opposition to the ANC, and has support among the growing black middle class. The official opposition Democratic Alliance, resurgent under its new leader Helen Zille, also hopes to boost its presence in parliament. It has campaigned under a "Stop Zuma" slogan, aiming to attract voters uneasy over the ANC's record on corruption.