Politics 2000

The African Democratic Congress, the party which has held power in South Africa since apartheid ended, lost a bit of its influence following this week’s election. The ADC won the first multiracial election in 1994 but failed to receive a two-thirds majority this time.

That means the ADC cannot change the constitution on its own. In short, the ADC will have to work with opposition parties for the first time. The predominately white Democratic Alliance was the biggest gainer, especially in the largely mixed race Western Cape, home of Cape Town. Nonetheless, a simple majority of Parliament is all that’s required for ADC leader Jacob Zuma to be elected South African president in May under the constitution.

While South Africa may have some incremental change, Iceland is undergoing a sea change. The right-wing Independence Party was brought low by angry voters who blame the ruling party for their nation’s economic woes.

The Independence Party led Iceland for 18 years before resigning in January. Iceland’s banks were nationalized before they could collapse as the world’s financial crisis shook the nation hard. Inflation and unemployment have risen sharply. The krona–the unit of currency–has fallen in value.

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir’s Social Democratic Party had been leading an interim liberal government. Combined with the Left Green Movement, the left-wing parties earned 52 percent of the voters. Leftist parties have never garnered a majority of the vote in Iceland.

The Independence Party sunk to a record low of 24 percent. Meanwhile, the SDP and LGM must reconcile their differences over possibly joining the European Union. Sigurdardottir wants Iceland in the EU. The LGM wants to remain independent, fearing EU interference in Iceland’s prized fishing industry.

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