Constitutional milestone

South Africa's first democratic election

Opening national voting to citizens of all races after apartheid.

When: 1994
Where: South Africa

Nelson Mandela in Washington, DC, in October 1994; a portrait from the election year, not a polling-day photograph.

South Africa's 1994 election followed decades of anti-apartheid struggle and negotiations over a new political order. Millions voted in a national election that ended the exclusion on which white-minority rule had depended.

Background

Negotiating a transition

The unbanning of liberation movements in 1990 opened a period of negotiations. The transition took place amid serious political violence and uncertainty.^[1]

What happened

1990
Negotiations widen
Legal restrictions on major liberation organisations were lifted.^[1]
1994
National election
The April election brought the African National Congress to government and Nelson Mandela to the presidency.^[1]

Impact & evidence

1994

Votes changed the basis of authority

Millions of people voted in a national election from which they had previously been excluded by apartheid. The ANC won a clear majority, allowing Nelson Mandela to lead the new government. The transition established inclusive electoral legitimacy, while economic inequality and the consequences of racial dispossession remained. The election was a decisive change in political power, not the completion of every promise of liberation.^[1]

Aftermath & legacy

Political equality and unfinished work

The election transformed citizenship and representation. It did not by itself remove the economic inequalities or social damage inherited from apartheid.^[1]

Sources & image credits (1)