South Africans voted today in an election that poses the toughest challenge to the African National Congress (ANC) since the end of apartheid and could weaken its overwhelming dominance in parliament.
The ANC looks assured of a fourth straight win since defeating white minority rule in 1994 under Nelson Mandela and will make its leader Jacob Zuma president weeks after he was able to get corruption charges dropped on a technicality.
But the party faces an unprecedented challenge from opposition parties hoping to capitalise on frustration over corruption, poverty and crime, and could lose the two-thirds majority that gives it the right to change the constitution and entrench its power further.
"We are entering a post-liberation era. People are talking about new issues and challenges and there's also a new generation that's not attached to the liberation struggle," said independent political analyst David Monyae.
From before dawn until past dusk, queues snaked outside polling stations across South Africa, the continent's biggest economy and diplomatic heavyweight. Ballot papers ran out at some centres and many planned to extend voting past a 9pm (1900 GMT) cut-off.
The electoral body has said turnout could top 80 per cent, with the highest number of voters since 1994. That could strengthen the authority of Mr Zuma (67).
"I voted for the ANC out of loyalty because my father was active in the struggle but I'm not satisfied with what they've done. People expected jobs, and to be comfortable but they are still living in shacks," said Margaret Nkone (57).
"I don't have a lot of confidence in Zuma but we hope he will do a better job," she complained in Soweto, a Johannesburg township that symbolised the fight against apartheid.
Many analysts believe the ANC, whose anti-apartheid credentials make it the choice for millions of black voters, will win between 60 and 66 per cent of the vote, compared to nearly 70 per cent in 2004.
"The ANC is slightly more likely to lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority than to retain it," said Control Risks consultancy, putting the chances at 55 versus 40 per cent.
A smaller ANC majority would cheer investors keen to see its grip loosened. Despite Mr Zuma's assurances, they fear he may bow to leftist allies who say policies credited with South Africa's longest spell of growth have harmed the poor.
But with South Africa possibly in its first recession in 17 years and mines and factories hard hit by the global downturn, Zuma's room for policy change is limited. Finance minister Trevor Manuel, a market favourite, is expected to stay for now.
"Our economy won't become ideological, it will stay rational," Manuel told Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper.
Voting at his village birthplace of Nkandla, in the Zulu heartland of KwaZulu-Natal, a confident sounding Mr Zuma said: "When I grew up, I did know that this day would come."
Supporters of Mr Zuma, imprisoned alongside Mr Mandela, brush off the graft accusations as the work of his political enemies.
A key challenge to the ANC comes from a new party formed by those loyal to former president Thabo Mbeki, ousted by the ANC amid allegations he meddled in the corruption case against Mr Zuma, which was dropped this month.
The first credible black opposition party, the Congress of the People (COPE), has some support among the growing black middle class, but has struggled to win over the poor.
Presidential candidate Mvume Dandala said the new party was still optimistic it could bring change.
"It is a baby with teeth. We can bite and I do believe the people of South Africa have heard our message," he said.
The official opposition Democratic Alliance, resurgent under new leader Helen Zille, a white South African, also hopes to boost its presence in parliament.
"In the first years of our freedom most people would have tended to vote ANC, now it is no longer quite so straight forward," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel peace laureate who has been critical of Mr Zuma.
First results are due late today.
Reuters