2009 South African general election

2009 South African general election

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All 400 seats in the National Assembly 201 seats needed for a majority
Registered	23,181,997
Turnout	77.30% ( 0.60pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jacob Zuma Helen Zille Mosiuoa Lekota Party ANC DA COPE Last election 69.69%, 279 seats 12.37%, 50 seats Did not exist Seats won 264 67 30 Seat change 15 17 New party Popular vote 11,650,748 2,945,829 1,311,027 Percentage 65.90% 16.66% 7.42% Swing 3.79pp 4.29pp New party   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi Patricia de Lille Bantu Holomisa Party IFP ID UDM Last election 6.97%, 28 seats 1.73%, 7 seats 2.28%, 9 seats Seats won 18 4 4 Seat change 10 3 5 Popular vote 804,260 162,915 149,680 Percentage 4.55% 0.92% 0.85% Swing 2.42pp 0.81pp 1.43pp
President before election Kgalema Motlanthe ANC Elected President Jacob Zuma ANC

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General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 2009 to elect members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.^[1] These were the fourth general elections held since the end of the apartheid era.

The North Gauteng High Court ruled on 9 February 2009 that South African citizens living abroad should be allowed to vote in elections.^[2] The judgment was confirmed by the Constitutional Court on 12 March 2009, when it decided that overseas voters who were already registered would be allowed to vote.^[3] Registered voters who found themselves outside their registered voting districts on election day were also permitted to vote for the national ballot at any voting station in South Africa.

The result was a victory for the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which won 264 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly, a fifteen seat reduction compared to the 2004 elections and losing its two-thirds supermajority. ANC leader Jacob Zuma became president.