Few states in Africa have been able to move as successfully from a first to a second multi-party competitive election. Election '99 examines the first five years of democratic government, the parties election campaigns, the results and the future.
The 1999 election presented the HSRC with a number of opportunities for conducting election studies. These included measuring the shift in public perceptions and support in the run-up to the election, and conducting the first ever exit poll.
The Election Observer Group Report sets out the observations, conclusions and recommendations of the official Observer groups which monitor election proceedings throughout the British Commonwealth. The Secretary-General constitutes these observer missions ant the request of governments and with the agreement of all significant political parties. At the end of a mission a report is submitted to the Secretary-General, who makes it available to the government of the country in question, the political parties concerned and to all British Commonwealth governments. The reports are then published making their unique information freely available. This is the 28th such report, and charts South Africa's first general election since the countries transition from apartheid to multiracial democracy.