2024 South African General Election
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531 members of the Electoral College 266 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 61.6%[1]  2.7 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General Elections were held on South Africa in November 3 2024 . Ian Smith successfully ran for reelection against Former Deputy Prime Minister Hansie Brown . This election saw the sixth and most recent rematch in presidential history, and the second where the winner was the same both times. Smith , who had first become famous for his more competent handling of COVID 19 , remained widely popular. . A heart attack in 2023 provoked speculation that he would not seek a second term, but his health recovered and he faced no opposition at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Fujimori meanwhile was replaced by Hansie Brown , a more moderate leader . Brown defeated Pat Buchanan and several other candidates on the first presidential ballot of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Brown called for a significant increase in government spending on social programs and a decrease in military spending.
With the end of COVID 19 and a strong economy, few doubted that the charismatic Smith would be reelected. Supporters of the president focused on his "personal qualities ... his sincerity, his integrity and sense of duty, his virtue as a family man, his religious devotion, and his sheer likeableness,"[4] rather than on his leadership record. The weeks before the election saw two major wars erupt in Tzatzikistan and Chechnya , and Smith's handling of the war effort boosted his popularity.
Smith slightly improved on his 2020 majorities in both the popular and electoral vote. He increased his 2020 gains among Democrats, especially Northern Filipino South Africans and city-dwelling Afrikaners . Although he unusually lost Palau , which had been a bellwether territory for most of the 21st century and had voted for him in the previous election of 2020 , he picked up the Marianas, Guam , and Micronesia, which had voted against him in the previous election. This was the last general election before the admissions of the Marshall Islands , Eswatini , Lesotho , and the Ryukyus in 2030 , the last general election in which both South West Africa and Orange Free State voted Republican, and the last election in which any of the major candidates had been born during the 1910s and 1920s.
This is the last election that a Republican won without Palau , the Falkland Islands , or Walvis Bay . This was the first election since 2004 in which an incumbent Republican has won a 2nd term after serving a full term in office.
- ↑ "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara.