Talk:1994 South African general election

Parties in the info template

Should the ANC and the NP really be the only parties in the information template at the top of the page? As far as I am aware, the parties were not in alliances or blocks but contested the election independently. Therefore, I think a few of the larger parties like IFP, FF and DP, should be added as well. If so, this goes for all the other post-apartheid election pages as well. -- 78.70.52.31 (talk) 07:19, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

Results table

Can a very wonderful person put these figures in a table of some sort? It looks like an earthquake hit the page! --Ryan! | Talk 21:05, Mar 5, 2005 (UTC)

What do the numbers in the tables mean ? Percentages ? Seats won ? Headers are needed on the top of each table, please. Thanks. -- PFHLai 19:12, 2005 Apr 21 (UTC)

The percentages indicate the number of people who voted for that party for eg. 62.6% of people who voted in the 1994 elections in SA voted for the ANC. The seats are the number of seats the party holds in parliament, therefore the ANC has 252 seats which is close to the 2/3 majority.Fedi

Ballot paper

Anybody know who owns the copyright on the 1994 ballot paper? I know having a picture of a ballot paper in a wikipedia article is unusual, but this particular ballot is kinda famous in South Africa: people have it framed on their walls, it appears in History textbooks, etc.

Whoever took the picture has a copyright on the picture; I don't think ballots are copyrighted anyway, but its the photo copyright that is important. If you have the ballot itself, just take a good picture of it and you can release it under one of the licenses Wikipedia is allowed to use. It would be a great addition to this article. Recury 14:30, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I have a copy, will try take a picture sometime. Greenman 08:45, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Free election?

Surely saying "universal suffrage" is enough and more accurate that simply saying "free election" (what does "free" in this sense mean, anyway)? If "free" means people weren't forced to vote for a certain party, then all South African elections since 1910 had been free. If "free" is a way of saying "universal suffrage", then why say it, when a few lines lower down that exact phrase is already being used? -- leuce 20:35, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

First multiracial election?

Coloureds had the vote when the Union of South Africa was established. They were only disenfranchised in 1956. So you could say the 1994 elections were the first multiracial elections since 1956, but that kinda softens the effect, doesn't it? -- leuce (talk) 16:10, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Point taken, however the current wording is a bit "wishy washy" and doesn't convey the significance and full impact of the election. I'll try to come up with a better phrasing, but keeping the same meaning. Zunaid 21:49, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Fraud during election.

There are some allegations that the elections were fraudulent and that the results being used were actually "negotiated results".

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The 1994 election was so chaotic that no accurate result could be computed. Hence, its final outcome was essentially the product of negotiation. The ANC was accorded 63% of the vote, but this might well have exaggerated its true support. Opposition parties initially wanted to challenge the election result, but in the end they chose rather to accept it. For to question the outcome or demand a re-run of the poll was to risk throwing the country into the vortex of the people’s war once more – and few people had the stomach for that. Most South Africans preferred to take comfort in the notion of a miracle transition and to hope that this would bring about the bright new future the ANC had long been promising. http://www.sairr.org.za/sairr-today/news_item.2009-09-03.4310602162/

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Shouldn't this be mentioned in the article? --41.19.32.59 (talk) 10:35, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes agree. Most seemed to think that the IFP vote in particular was overstated though, don't have sources now, but feel free to go ahead with your mention. Greenman (talk) 11:58, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Government of National Unity - wording?

The lead section says "ANC leaders opted to form a tripartite Government of National Unity with the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party." Is the use of the word "opted" really accurate? My understanding is that it wasn't optional; that the Interim Constitution required that a GNU be formed. - htonl (talk) 02:12, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

The constitution at the time stated "A party holding at least 20 seats in the National Assembly and which has decided to participate in the government of national unity, shall be entitled to be allocated one or more of the Cabinet portfolios" (link) so it wasn't really optional if they wanted to be part of government. Greenman (talk) 10:07, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Thnaks. I've reworded that sentence accordingly. - htonl (talk) 13:02, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

International Polling Places

I don't have the specifics of the polling places that South Africa set up around the world for ex-patriots, but I volunteered in a polling place at the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland, California. It seems that, if anyone can research this information, these polling places are of an historic nature. LeeTramp 01:11, 19 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Amosslee (talk • contribs)

External links modified

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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

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Freedom Day South Africa

How was the elections Zildjian Jacobs (talk) 12:03, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

Background section

Not what I want expected to see here - is this section worth having? Mdrb55 (talk) 21:29, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

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Two flags?

I was wondering why there are 2 flags in the infobox. The old flag was removed as the official flag of the nation on the 20th of April and as far as I can see, should not be in there as voting started after that date. Does anyone else have an opinion on this as I personally think it should be removed. The C of E God Save the King! (talk) 10:39, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Discussions on another page

There is a discussion in progress on Talk:2024_South_African_general_election#Infobox_legislative_election_instead_of_Infobox_election which supposedly affects this page and "all elections in South Africa since 1994, not just the 2024 elections." Wowzers122 (talk) 06:05, 16 June 2024 (UTC)