Although the African National Congress (ANC) registered its lowest electoral victory since the end of apartheid, the party still won 57.5 percent of the vote and retained control of eight of South Africa’s nine provinces. At the same time, opposition to the ANC grew both on the far left and the far right: Julius Malema’s populist Economic Freedom Front (EFF) increased its share of the vote from 6.4 percent in 2014 to 10.8 percent, from 26 members of parliament to 44. Given its youthful base and Malema’s rhetorical skills, this trend is likely to continue. The Freedom Front Plus (FF+), whose base is made up largely of white voters on the far right, scored its largest percentage of the vote (2.4 percent) since 1994.
