A comparison of the May 29 election and its aftermath serves as a sobering indication of the health of democracy in South Africa compared to the state of democracy in the US as its November 5 election approaches.
The outcome of the May 29 election was known within 36 hours and accepted. Having lost its ruling majority, the ANC did not resort to a coup d’etat or High Court battles. A GNU was formed and has been in office for more than 100 days. Fresh voices are now an accepted reality in the corridors of government.
But in the US, a Rasmussen poll found that 62%, including a large number of Democrat supporters, believe that the 2020 election was marred by electoral fraud and that 66% of voters polled expect the 2024 election to be similarly affected.
The ANC did not resort to rapidly enfranchising foreign migrants to maintain their hold on power when polls showed that they could not expect more than 45% of the vote. But as the Los Angeles Times reported on September 26, in the US, the Democrats are rapidly fast-tracking illegal migrants into citizenship to vote as polls show Republican support surging.
In Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court overturned the Democrat practice of accepting undated mailed-in ballots. In Minnesota, 1,000 illegals were removed from the voters’ roll having been given voting rights with their driver’s licences. In Nevada, non-citizens are being registered to vote. In Michigan, a massive Democrat absentee vote scam has been exposed by Republicans. Incredibly, the corrupt Biden Department of Justice is suing Texas, Alabama, and Missouri for purging non-citizens from voters’ rolls.
Before our May 29 election, there were no suggestions that its outcome could be a protracted one. But on September 13 the New York Times floated the view that the November election results could take a while. Why should that be likely considering the extent to which voting in the US is electronic to a large extent? Yet in the 2020 election, ten days after voting day, ballots were still arriving and being counted.
Ominously, the FBI has warned that there may be violence and cyberattacks which could delay the election, while Democrats are now claiming the likelihood of electoral interference by Iran. How can they now make such a claim when they insisted in 2020 that elections were completely safe and secure? Are these ostensible fears merely red herrings to cover up their intended electoral fraud to remain in power?
Despite the minor snags that did occur on May 29 when South Africa went to the polls, the US could learn a lot from South Africa’s electoral process.
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