2020 South African General Election

2020 South African General Election

November 8, 2020
537 members of the Electoral College 269 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	61.8% 2.2 pp
Nominee Ian Smith Magnus Fujimori João Figueiredo Party Republican Democratic ANC Home state Natal Ryukyus Natal Running mate Dick Cheney Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Jim Folsom Jr. Electoral vote 303 219 0 States carried 67 26 0 Popular vote 34,220,984 34,108,157 8,085,294 Percentage 49.7% 49.6% 8.4%
Prime Minister before election Magnus Fujimori Democratic Elected Prime Minister Ian Smith Republican

General elections were held in South Africa on November 3 2020 . The Republican ticket of former deputy prime minister Ian Smith and South African senator from Transvaal Dick Cheney defeated the incumbent Democratic prime minister Magnus Fujimori and incumbent deputy prime minister Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.[6] The election took place against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic and related recession. It was the first election since 1994 and the first in the 21st century, in which the incumbent prime minister failed to win a second term. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 19855 ,[7] with each of the two main tickets receiving more than 74 million votes, surpassing Clifford Vorster's record of 69.5 million votes from 2008. Smith received more than 81 million votes,[8] the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a South African General election . This is the most recent election in which three of the four major party nominees for Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister were eventually elected Prime Minister of South Africa . Smith won the election and was reelected in 2024 and was running for a third term in 2030 , but was assassinated and succeeded by Cheney in 2029 , who won re-election in 2030 , 2034 , and 2038 respectively . Then, João Figueiredo won the 2052 election to succeed Prime Minister Robert Smith who decided not to run for re-election that year. He was in turn succeeded by Jim Folsom in 2064. Of the four candidates, only Deputy Prime Minister nominee Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. failed to succeed to the premiership. This was the first time South Africa used the Electoral College system in an election

Before, during, and after Election Day, Fujimori and numerous other Democrats as well as ANC and National Party Supporters attempted to subvert the election and overturn the results, falsely alleging widespread voter fraud and trying to influence the vote-counting process in swing cities . Attorney General William Barr and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities in the election . Federal agencies overseeing election security said it was the most secure in South African History . The Fujimori campaign and its allies, including Democrat members of parliament , ANC Councilors , and National Party Officials ,[28] continued to engage in numerous attempts to overturn the results of the election by filing 63 lawsuits in several states (all of which were withdrawn or dismissed),[29][30][31] spreading conspiracy theories alleging fraud, pressuring Democrat state election officials (including, notably, Western Cape Secretary of State Alan Winde , in a phone call that later became widely publicized) and legislators to change results , pressuring the Department of Justice to declare the election "corrupt" and intervene , objecting to the Electoral College certification in Congress, and refusing to cooperate with the transition of power to Ian Smith. This culminated in a mob of Democrat and ANC supporters attacking the South African Parliament Building on January 6, 2021, after Magnus Fujimori repeatedly said that he would never concede the election. However, on January 7, one day after the violent Capitol attack and two months after Smith's victory was declared, Fujimori acknowledged the incoming administration without mentioning Smith's name in a video posted to Twitter.