Portal:Politics/Selected article/2007, week 40

In the current politics of South Africa, the African National Congress is the ruling party at a national level, and in most provinces, having received 69.7% of the vote during the 2004 general election and 66.3% of the vote in the 2006 municipal election. The main challenger to the ANC's rule is the Democratic Alliance party, which received 12.4% of the vote in the 2004 election and 14.8% in the 2006 election. The leader of this party is Helen Zille. Other major political parties represented in Parliament are the Inkatha Freedom Party, which mainly represents Zulu voters, with 6.97%; and the Independent Democrats with 1.7% in the 2004 election. The formerly dominant New National Party, who introduced apartheid through its predecessor the National Party, received very few votes and disbanded on 9 April 2005 to merge with the ANC. The current South African president is Thabo Mbeki.