General elections were held in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on Wednesday, 14 April 2004. The

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) of President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

, which came to power after the end of the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

system in 1994, was re-elected with an increased majority. These were the third elections held since the end of the apartheid era. The

South African National Assembly The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred Members of Parliament, members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportio ...

consists of 400 members, elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. 200 members are elected from national party lists, the other 200 are elected from party lists in each of the nine provinces. The

President of South Africa The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence F ...

is chosen by the National Assembly after each election. The ANC, which had been in power since 1994, obtained 69.7% of votes cast on the national ballot, theoretically allowing them to change the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. Some 20.6-million people were registered for the 2004 general elections, which was about 2 million more than in 1999. About 76% of registered voters took part in the election, with the ANC receiving 69.7% of the votes cast. However, only 56% of eligible voters (South African citizens of voting age) took part in the 2004 election, which means that the ANC received votes from only about 38% of all eligible voters. The year 2004 saw an increase in voter abstention and there was at least one high-profile election and registration boycotts campaign, the No Land! No House! No Vote! Campaign. A major electoral issue during the election was the dominance of the ANC; detractors of the ANC, most notably the Democratic Alliance, argued that the party's political dominance posed a threat to the country's democratic institutions and that voters should therefore vote for opposition parties. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, also obtained an increased percentage on the national ballot, most likely from former supporters of the New National Party (NNP), possibly losing some support to

Patricia de Lille Patricia de Lille (née Lindt; born 17 February 1951) is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and leader of the political party Good. She served as Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure from 2019 to 2023. S ...

's new

Independent Democrats The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption, with ...

. The NNP, a descendant of the ruling party of the apartheid era, collapsed and lost most of their support, dropping from 6.9% in 1999 to 1.7% (it was 20.4% in 1994), many of their supporters being unhappy with their alliance with the ANC. The NNP alliance with the ANC allowed the ANC gain control of the Western Cape and City of Cape Town; following the election the NNP elected to dissolve and merge with the ANC. The Independent Democrats surprised many observers by obtaining more votes than the New National Party, becoming the fifth largest party. The

Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP; ) is a conservative political party in South Africa, which is a part of the current South African Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa, government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC). A ...

lost some support, including the majority in their stronghold province of Kwazulu-Natal, while the

United Democratic Movement The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is a centre-left, social-democratic, South African political party, formed by a prominent former National Party leader, Roelf Meyer (who has since resigned from the UDM), a former African National Congre ...

also lost support, barely hanging on as opposition in their stronghold, the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

. As of

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

this is the last election in which the ANC made gains in both seats and popular vote.

Events

A corruption scandal dubbed "''

Oilgate Oilgate is a South African political scandal in which the petrol company Imvume Holdings was accused of paying R11 millions of state money to the ruling African National Congress shortly before the 2004 General Election. The money had been recei ...

''" by the South African media surfaced when it was reported that R11 million was transferred from the state owned

PetroSA PetroSA (The Petroleum, Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa ( SOC) Ltd.) is the national oil and gas company (NOC) of South Africa. Its main activities are the extraction of natural gas from offshore fields about 89 km from Mossel B ...

to help fund the African National Congress' election campaign. Following the election the

Mail and Guardian The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...

newspaper was controversially gagged from publishing a report on the Oilgate scandal.

National Assembly results

Contested seat

When the official results were released, the ACDP successfully challenged the outcome. As a result, one of the two seats AZAPO won initially was handed over to the ACDP.

Provincial legislature results

Elections for the nine provincial parliaments were held at the same time as for the National Assembly.

Eastern Cape

Free State

Gauteng

KwaZulu-Natal

Limpopo

Mpumalanga

North West

Northern Cape

Western Cape

NCOP seats

The

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the post-apartheid constitution of South Africa, constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate of South Africa# ...

(NCOP) consists of 90 members, ten elected by each provincial legislature. The Members of NCOP have to be elected in proportion to the party membership of the provincial legislature. , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !style="text-align:left", Delegate type ! EC ! FS ! G ! KZN ! L ! M ! NW ! NC ! WC !colspan=2, ''Total'' , - , style="width: 4px;background-color:" rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 5 , 5 , 4 , 4 , 2 , ''35'' , rowspan=2, ''65'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , 4 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 2 , ''30'' , - , style="width: 4px;background-color:" rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 2 , ''10'' , rowspan=2, ''12'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , 1 , , , , , , 1 , ''2'' , - , style="width: 4px;background-color:" rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , 1 , 2 , , , , , , ''3'' , rowspan=2, ''5'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , 2 , , , , , , ''2'' , - , style="width: 4px;background-color:" rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , , , 1 , ''1'' , rowspan=2, ''2'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , , , , , 1 , , ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , , 1 , 1 , colspan=2, ''2'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , , , , , , 1 , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , 1 , , , , , , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , 1 , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 1 , , , , , , , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="3" style="text-align:left", Total !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !colspan=2, ''90''

Notes to the tables

References

External links

Official IEC election resultsSouth African general election, 2004 on electionresources.orgElection results from the South African Broadcasting Corporation
{{South African elections General elections in South Africa

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Thabo Mbeki