AFP - South Africans voted Wednesday for their fourth city since the end of apartheid, a test for the African National Congress (ANC), which is struggling to overcome growing frustration towards his performance after 17 years in power.
Polling stations officially closed at 19.00 pm (1700 GMT), but voters who were still queuing at this time have been able to deposit their ballots in the ballot box, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The results arriving only a very partial, it was still impossible to identify a trend towards midnight (2200 GMT). The final results must be published Friday.
Pansy Tlakula, the owner of the IEC, said she thought the turnout exceeded 40%.She had reached 48.4% in the previous municipal 2006.
Apart from some delays due to delays in delivering ballots, failures scanners identity cards of voters, power cuts or the presence of crocodiles preventing tellers to access a remote polling station, the election went well, according to the IEC.
23.6 million South Africans renewed the elected eight cities, 226 municipalities and 44 districts ordinary.
The ANC, still basking in the glow of his image as a liberator, remains the favorite in the poll.But discontent against the failures of public services could lead some voters to the opposition or abstention.
"I'm very optimistic because we've made great progress," however, said the South African President and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, by voting mid-day in his village of Nkandla in Zululand ( is).
"We're going to surprise a lot," he said while acknowledging that more work to improve drinking water, electricity and roads.
Since the advent of multiracial democracy in 1994, marked progress has been made. Some 93% of households have a water point near their homes, against 62% last seventeen years, 84% are electrified as against 36% ...
But rural areas and former black townships have been left on the sidelines or equipped with failed installations, giving the impression to the poorest being left-nots.
These frustrations have led to a resurgence of protests demanding better public services.
Electorally, this discontent could undermine the dominance of the ANC. In a poll released Monday, the party captured 58.3% of the vote, 8 points lower than his score for the 2006 municipal.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) that controls the city of Cape Town, expects this to continue growing discontent.The party won nearly 15% of the vote in 2006 and 17% in the 2009 parliamentary and could reach almost 20% this time.
The DA plans to take the ANC mayors, especially in the west and south.
"Our democracy is maturing and people are beginning to understand that we must vote on the parties' ability to act in their favor," said its leader Helen Zille, before dropping his ballot into the ballot box."No party owns the voters for eternity," she added.
During the campaign, the ANC has played its past as liberator, the president Zuma even calling on voters to vote for the party in memory of deceased heroes of the anti-apartheid struggle.
Tuesday, he also visited the bedside of the country's first black president, Nelson Mandela, 92 years, still recovering from a hospitalization in January for an acute respiratory infection.
In a country that still bears the scars of decades of racial segregation, the message is still fly with some of the black population.
