South Africa’s first democratic elections end as counting begins

Counting began two days after the first ever democratic elections in South Africa. Nearly 20 million people participated in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.  The voting time was extended until 7 pm on 29 April in Venda, Gazankulu, Lebowa, KwaZulu, Transkei and Ciskei. The African National Congress(ANC) under the leadership of the late Nelson Mandela won the  vast majority of votes with 12 237 655 (62.9%), the National Party(NP) under the leadership of F W de Klerk won 983 690 (22%) of the national votes, the Inkatha Freedom Party(IFP) under the leadership of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi won 2 058 294 (10%) of the national votes, Freedom Front (FF) under the leadership of Constand Viljoen won 424 555 (2.17%) of the national votes, Democratic Party(DP) under the leadership of  Zach de Beer won 338 426 (1.73%) of the national votes, Pan Africanist Congress(PAC) won 243 478 of the national votes (1.25%), and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) under the leadership of Reverend Kenneth Meshoe  won 88 104 of the national votes (0.45%). International observers pronounced the voting to have been appreciably free and fair.