ANC under pressure to reverse South Africa decline

South Africans are voting in highly contested local elections likely to see a haemorrhaging of votes for the country's former ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC).

This year's voting season has been marked by intense campaigns that have included politicians spinning cars, watching grannies knit and even wading through giant-sized potholes.

Leaders are campaigning to head South Africa's nearly 300 municipalities, responsible for basic service provision such as water, electricity and refuse collection.

For the ANC, the elections are a chance to prove it still has what it takes to govern. The party had a disastrous showing in the last national election, when it lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994 when the racist apartheid system ended.

Support for the party has been dropping significantly over the years because of anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime.

At its peak, in 2004, the ANC got 70% of the vote in the general election. Two decades later its share dropped to 40%.

Polls and pundits have predicted a further loss in these elections but President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied that his party was in a downward spiral.

"What I'm seeing here is that the ANC is going higher and higher and on the 4th [of November] we will show those naysayers," he told supporters at the party's final election rally on Sunday.

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)