South Africa elections: final countdown as voters gear up to cast ballots

Final preparations are underway for South Africa’s election on Wednesday, which falls 30 years after the country ended apartheid rule and may be the first time that long-time ruling party African National Congress (ANC) faces losing a majority in parliament.

Several polls put ANC approval at less than 50% and facing the possibility of losing power for the first time since it won control of the government led by Nelson Mandela in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

In Johannesburg’s Melville neighbourhood, electoral staff were setting up a polling station ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

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