By Canadian Press

South Africa starts voting amid corruption, unemployment

May 7, 2019 | 11:19 PM

JOHANNESBURG — South Africans have started voting in presidential and parliamentary elections amid issues of corruption and unemployment.

Wednesday’s vote comes 25 years after the end of apartheid, but despite the demise of the system of racial discrimination the country remains divided by economic inequality .

The party of Nelson Mandela that has been in power since 1994, The African National Congress, is likely to win a majority but it will face a difficult challenge to do as well as five years ago.

The party has been tarnished by widespread corruption scandals and a national unemployment rate of 27% that has left many voters disillusioned. ANC head President Cyril Ramaphosa has campaigned on promises to clean up his party, an acknowledgment of the problems that forced his predecessor to resign last year.

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The Associated Press