The results for the 2019 South African parliamentary elections have come out, and they show that the ruling party might be losing peoples favor. The African National Congress has never lost a parliamentary election, including this one, since 1994, when its leader Nelson Mandela became the president of South Africa. However, this year marks the first time ever since that it has won less than 60% of the total votes.

“The ANC peddles Mandela’s legacy, using it to win election after election and buying time – only to squander it again,” said Deutsche Welle journalist Claus Stäcker. “Young people are so disillusioned they did not even bother to go to the ballot box. Fewer than every fifth young voter exercised his or her right to vote. The apathy speaks volumes.”

ANC has become largely unpopular for many reasons. Corruption has been so rampant in the government that an incumbent president, also a member of the ANC, had to resign last year for bribery and abuse of power charges. Economy has been declining so hard that the unemployment rate now stands at 27%. President Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of ANC, has been struggling to work together with opposition parties. This year’s election results are a sign that a change is desperately needed if ANC wants to keep the government for much longer.

“The time has come for real alternatives,” Stäcker said, “that, this time around, nine million voters did not see materialize. However, it is they who hold the future in their hands.”