26–29 April 1994

The election that opened the vote to everyone

ZA is the country code for South Africa. 94 is the year it held its first election on a common franchise. For four days in April, millions of people queued to choose a parliament, and a president, for the first time together.

See the results How voting worked

Illustrative scene of a long queue of voters outside a small brick school at sunrise — Illustration, not an archival photograph. Queues outside schools and halls became the public image of the 1994 election.

19.7 millionballots counted in the national contest

62.65%of valid votes for the ANC, and 252 of 400 seats

7 partieswon National Assembly seats. Twelve others fell short.

15 shortof the 267 seats needed to rewrite the constitution alone

Start here

BackgroundThe road to AprilNegotiations, the interim constitution, and why the vote almost did not include every major party. The ballotHow the election workedTwo papers, no voters’ roll, indelible ink, and a day added where the ballots arrived late. The countNational resultsEvery party on the national ballot, the seats they won, and how close the result was to two-thirds. The mapNine provincesThe ANC led in seven. The National Party led in the Western Cape. Inkatha led in KwaZulu-Natal. The listsWho stoodNineteen parties on the national ballot, from the ANC and the National Party to lists that won no seats. DatesFrom 1990 to the oathUnbannings, talks, the late entry of Inkatha, the count, and the inauguration on 10 May.

What the country was voting for

The election chose the 400 members of a new National Assembly and the legislatures of nine new provinces. It was not a presidential ballot. The National Assembly elected the president a few days later. On 9 May 1994 it chose Nelson Mandela. He was sworn in at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 10 May.

The rules came from the interim constitution, agreed by negotiators in November 1993 and brought into force on 27 April 1994, in the middle of the vote. That constitution also created a government of national unity: any party with at least 20 seats could claim a place in cabinet. The ANC, the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party all cleared that line.

Read the road to the election

Illustrative close-up of a thumb stained with purple voting ink — Illustration. With no voters’ roll, indelible ink on the hand was one of the checks against voting twice.

The national vote, in brief

Full results

ANC62.65%

National20.39%

IFP10.54%

FF2.17%

DP1.73%

PAC1.25%

ACDP0.45%

Others0.82%

Share of 19,533,498 valid national votes. Percentages are rounded and can miss 100 by a tenth. Seats were even closer to those shares than a winner-takes-all system would have been. The full table, with seats.

Read the turnout figure carefully

There was no voters’ roll. The often-quoted turnout of 86.9% divides 19,726,610 counted national ballots by an approximate electorate of 22.7 million. Another estimate put the number of eligible adults nearer 21.7 million. Both can be cited. Neither is a register.

The party totals on this site are the published national figures. They sum exactly to 19,533,498 valid votes. A few secondary accounts differ by a few dozen ballots. Sources and why the small gaps exist.

Illustrative scene of election workers counting stacks of paper ballots at night — Illustration. The final national result was published on 6 May 1994.

Illustrative photograph of a small school in open grassland — Schools, churches and halls were the ordinary polling places.

Illustrative photograph of green coastal hills above the sea — The same national ballot was cast from the coast to the highveld. The provincial ballot was not.