The elections are expected to be the most competitive since the end of the apartheid system.

Political analysts widely predict that the governing African National Congress (ANC) party will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994, with record power cuts, poor service delivery and high levels of unemployment among voter complaints.

South Africans will elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each of the country’s nine provinces before the National Assembly elects the president.

Ramaphosa, 71, is seeking a second term as president. He has struggled to lift economic growth significantly since taking over from Jacob Zuma as president in 2018.

“The 2024 elections coincide with South Africa’s celebration of 30 years of freedom and democracy,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement.

“Therefore, President Ramaphosa calls on all eligible voters to fully participate in this important and historic milestone of our democratic calendar,” the statement read.