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National Assembly · published 6 May 1994
The 1994 election results
The African National Congress won a clear majority and missed a two-thirds majority. Seven parties entered parliament. The cabinet that followed was a government of national unity, not a one-party government.
The headline
seats for the ANC, out of 400. A two-thirds majority, the number that could have rewritten the constitution without any other party, was 267.
Of 19,533,498 valid national votes, the ANC took 12,237,655, or 62.65 percent. The National Party took 3,983,690, or 20.39 percent, and 82 seats. The Inkatha Freedom Party took 2,058,294, or 10.54 percent, and 43 seats. Those three were the only parties large enough for the government of national unity. The threshold for a cabinet post was 20 seats.
Every party on the national ballot
| Party | Votes | Share | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| African National Congress (ANC) | 12,237,655 | 62.65% | 252 |
| National Party (NP) | 3,983,690 | 20.39% | 82 |
| Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) | 2,058,294 | 10.54% | 43 |
| Freedom Front (FF / VF) | 424,555 | 2.17% | 9 |
| Democratic Party (DP) | 338,426 | 1.73% | 7 |
| Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) | 243,478 | 1.25% | 5 |
| African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) | 88,104 | 0.45% | 2 |
| Africa Muslim Party (AMP) | 34,466 | 0.18% | 0 |
| African Moderates Congress Party (AMCP) | 27,690 | 0.14% | 0 |
| Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa (DPSA) | 19,451 | 0.10% | 0 |
| Federal Party (FP) | 17,663 | 0.09% | 0 |
| Minority Front (MF) | 13,433 | 0.07% | 0 |
| SOCCER | 10,575 | 0.05% | 0 |
| African Democratic Movement (ADM) | 9,886 | 0.05% | 0 |
| Women’s Rights Peace Party (WRPP) | 6,434 | 0.03% | 0 |
| Ximoko Progressive Party (XPP) | 6,320 | 0.03% | 0 |
| Keep It Straight and Simple (KISS) | 5,916 | 0.03% | 0 |
| Workers’ List Party (WLP) | 4,169 | 0.02% | 0 |
| Luso-South African Party (LUSO) | 3,293 | 0.02% | 0 |
| Valid votes | 19,533,498 | 100% | 400 |
| Spoilt ballots | 193,112 | 0.98% of ballots cast | — |
| Ballots counted | 19,726,610 |
SOCCER is the Sport Organisation for Collective Contributions and Equal Rights. The Freedom Front also appeared as the Vryheidsfront. The twelve parties below the ACDP together took 159,296 votes, about 0.82 percent, and no seats. The Minority Front won no national seat and did win one seat in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature. Provincial results are a different ballot: see the provinces.
Votes and seats stayed close
Because the whole country was, in effect, one constituency, and because there was no threshold, seat shares tracked vote shares. Arend Lijphart described the 1994 system as unusually proportional. The comparison:
| Party | Vote share | Seats | Seat share |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANC | 62.65% | 252 | 63.00% |
| National Party | 20.39% | 82 | 20.50% |
| IFP | 10.54% | 43 | 10.75% |
| Freedom Front | 2.17% | 9 | 2.25% |
| Democratic Party | 1.73% | 7 | 1.75% |
| PAC | 1.25% | 5 | 1.25% |
| ACDP | 0.45% | 2 | 0.50% |
Under a British-style system of single-member districts, the parties below the IFP would very likely have won nothing, and the ANC would have cleared two-thirds. The list system was a political choice, not an accident of the count. How the quota worked is explained on how the election worked.
What the numbers set in motion
On 9 May 1994 the new National Assembly elected Nelson Mandela president. He was inaugurated on 10 May at the Union Buildings. Thabo Mbeki, of the ANC, and F. W. de Klerk, of the National Party, became deputy presidents. The National Party qualified for a second deputy president because it held more than 80 seats. Mangosuthu Buthelezi entered the cabinet as minister of home affairs. The Freedom Front, with nine seats, was below the cabinet line.
The same election filled nine provincial legislatures, 425 seats in all. The ANC was the largest party in seven of them and had an outright majority in six. It had exactly half the seats in the Northern Cape. The National Party had a majority in the Western Cape. The IFP had a bare majority in KwaZulu-Natal, 41 of 81. The provincial picture is on its own page.
How to quote this page
Use 12,237,655 votes and 252 seats for the ANC, and 19,533,498 valid votes, when you need the published national total. Say that spoilt ballots were 193,112 and that 19,726,610 national ballots were counted.
If you quote turnout as 86.9 percent, say that the denominator, about 22.7 million, is an estimate. There was no roll. A separate provincial ballot produced a different total: 19,633,571 ballots, of which 147,841 were spoilt and 19,485,730 were valid. People rarely refused the second paper. The gap is mostly about counting and spoilt papers, not about voters walking out halfway.
This is an explainer, not an official archive. The sources are listed on Sources.