South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) now holds more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament after clinching 69.7 percent of the votes in the country’s third democratic elections held in April.

At national level, political parties in parliament decreased from 17 to 12. The ANC increased its power from 65 to 69.7 percent followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 12.4 percent. Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) was third with 6.97 percent.

The elections were conducted without the monitoring services of international observer groups such as the European Commission. Instead, local and regional teams oversaw the elections with the SADC observer team fielding agents in all nine provinces. These election monitors reported that a peaceful atmosphere prevailed during the elections.

President Thabo Mbeki, for his second and final term, appointed a core group of ministers to address concerns on poverty, unemployment, HIV and AIDS among other issues raised during the election campaign. The need to balance representation along the country’s ethnic, gender and political spectrum was also catered for.

The president delivered on the country’ s commitment to ensure at least 30 percent representation of women in politics and decision-making, as outlined in the 1997 SADC Declaration on Gender and Development.

The new cabinet now has 12 women out of 28 full cabinet ministers, up from eight in the last government. Women deputy ministers have risen to 10 out of 21 up from the previous eight out of 16. President Mbeki also appointed four women out of eight new premiers.

Portfolios assigned to the 12 include: agriculture and land affairs, communications, education, foreign affairs, health, home affairs, housing, justice, public works, minerals and energy, public services and administration, and water and forestry. ?