At Stake in this Election:

• 400 seats in the National Assembly of South Africa

Government Structure:

• Chief of State: President Cyril RAMAPHOSA
• Head of Government: President Cyril RAMAPHOSA
• Assembly: South Africa has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Council of Provinces with 90 seats and the National Assembly with 400 seats.

Electoral System:

• In the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, 400 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms. The 400 seats in the National Assembly are split evenly from a national and a regional list, each with 200 seats. Members on the regional list are elected from nine multi-member districts, each corresponding to a province, with seats allocated in proportion to population.

Main parties in this Election:*

• Party: African National Congress (ANC)**
  • Leader: Cyril RAMAPHOSA
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 249
• Party: Democratic Alliance (DA)
  • Leader: Mmusi MAIMANE
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 89
• Party: Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
  • Leader: Julius Sello MALEMA
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 25
• Party: Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
  • Leader: Mangosuthu BUTHELEZI
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 10
• Party: African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)
  • Leader: Kenneth MESHOE
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 3
• Party: Congress of the People (COPE)
  • Leader: Mosiuoa LEKOTA
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 3
• Party: United Democratic Movement (UDM)
  • Leader: Bantubonke HOLOMISA
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 4
• Party: Freedom Front Plus (FF+) / Vryheidsfront Plus (VF+)
  • Leader: Pieter GROENEWALD
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 4
• Party: National Freedom Party (NFP)
  • Leader: Zanele KAMAGWAZA-MSIBI
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 6
• Party: African Independent Congress (AIC)
  • Leader: Mandla GALO
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 3
• Party: Agang South Africa
  • Leader: Mike TSHISHONGA
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 2
• Party: Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)
  • Leader: Narius MOLOTO
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 1
• Party: African Peoples Convention (APC)
  • Leader: Themba GODI
  • Seats won in last National Assembly election: 1

* There are 48 parties in this election. A full list is available here and here.

** The ANC is a member of the Tripartite Alliance, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 58,065,097 (2019 est.)
• Registered Voters: 26,779,025

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 29,586,704 (2019 est.)
• Is South Africa a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (29 January 1993)
• Has South Africa ratified CEDAW: Yes (15 December 1995)
• Gender Quota: No
• Female candidates in this election: Yes (44% of all candidates in 2019 elections)
• Number of Female Parliamentarians: 163 of 400 (40.8%) in the National Assembly and 19 of 90 (21.1%) in the National Council
• Human Development Index Position: 113 (2018)
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2019)

Disability Data:

• Is South Africa a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
• Has South Africa ratified CRPD: Yes (30 November 2007)
• Population with a disability: 8,051,334 (est.)