ABSTRACT
The cycle of watershed elections that took place in Anglophone Africa from 1989 climaxed with South Africa’s first ever democratic elections in April 1994. In all, seven of the 26 organizations at the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum, representing the white far-right and black beneficiaries of apartheid, opposed both the fixing of an election date and the agreement on an interim constitution. A series of events and late concessions allowed the elections to take place on schedule. The elections required voters to cast two ballots to elect a National Assembly and nine provincial assemblies. The National Party’s conversion to free-market economics in the late 1980s had eroded the Democratic Party’s role as the main political mouthpiece of business, whilst the ascent of the African National Congress diminished its promise as an effective influence over post-election policy. Local government elections constituted a key second aspect of the transition, deepening the democratization process inaugurated with the general election.
