South Africa's electoral system is designed to sustain a multi-party democracy. The premise being that multi-partyism breeds electoral competition and in turn entrenches and consolidates democracy. However, this has not been the case over 15 years of democracy. The multiparty system is strong (in form) and evident in the fact that 42 parties are contesting the elections in April 2009. But weak as a result of a number of factors... eg. that electoral competition between parties has been far from meaningful goven the evr increasing majorities received by the African National Congress (ANC) during elections since 1994. The opposition has been unable to significantly challenge the electoral dominance of the ANC and has rendered South Africa's political system to one-party dominance...

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By Justin Sylvester of Idasa