External publications

Election year 2024 – South Africa rocks its political realities

Grimm, Sven
External Publications (2024)

published on blogs.idos-research.de, 03.06.2024

South African elections are but one event on a busy calendar in the global election years, where half the global populations goes to the polls – admittedly with varying degrees of actual voice in political matters. The country is among the bright ones, though, where votes clearly matter. The voters have turned a new page in politics at the Cape, setting a difficult task for a new government.

South Africa is one of Africa’s biggest economy and has considerable political clout on the continent and beyond. It was one of the last countries on the African continent to become politically free, with democratic elections precisely 30 years ago, and it has large symbolic power as one of the countries with clear democratic vocation and apparently reliable institutions to guarantee a free and fair vote. South Africa is a member of the G20, and its presidency of the group is upcoming from 1 December 2024 onwards. In a nutshell: What happens in South Africa thus does not stay in South Africa.