30 years after finish of aparthied, S Africans vote in races where Mandela's party tries to guard predominance

Johannesburg (South Africa), May 29 (ANI): People in South Africa began voting on Wednesday in an election that could mark a big political shift if the governing African National Congress (ANC) party loses its majority as opinion polls suggest, Al Jazeera reported.

Voters are electing nine provincial legislatures and a new national parliament, which will then choose the country's next president for the next five years. The election commission will announce the final results on Sunday.

The ANC led by 66-year-old South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will have to seek one or more coalition partners to rule the country if it gets less than 50 per cent of the national vote. The ANC has won six consecutive national elections since 1994.

This would then mark the first time the ANC will be ruling in a coalition alliance government since it was catupulted into power at the end of with apartheid, 30 years ago with Nelson Mandela at its helm.

The country's largest opposition party is the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) led by John Steenhusien that was formed by merging the Democratic party and the New National party.

Other opposition parties include the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, and a new party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which is backed by former president Jacob Zuma

A total of 70 parties and candidates are vying for 400 seats in the National Assembly by voting under a proportional system.

Parties on the national ballot will contest 200 of those seats while the other 200 are divided between the nine regions and contested by parties and independent candidates.

In provincial legislatures, the number of seats is determined on the basis of the size of the population in each of the nine provinces.

For the first time, voters will receive three ballots instead of two. On each ballot, they will have to choose one party or one candidate.

Two ballots will be used to elect the National Assembly, and the third one will be for the election of members of the provincial legislature in each province.

The ANC won 62.2 per cent share of the vote in the 2014 national election, giving the party 249 seats and a clear majority in the 400 seat parliament.