Twenty eight parties have registered to contest provincial and national elections in the Free State on 8 May, 12 more than the 2014 polls.
A total of 48 parties, the most ever, will contest the elections nationwide.
While this is not significant in terms of the impact on the top three parties in the Free State – the ANC, the EFF and the DA – analysts say it mirrors the discontent of South Africans at national level.
Gareth Van Onselen, of the Institute of Race Relations, told African News Agency (ANA) that “increasingly people are not feeling they have a natural home”.
“They don’t feel anyone represents them,” said van Onselen.
He says the Free State has shown a steady decline in the ANC’s share of the vote, both in absolute terms and percentage terms.
In 1999, the party ruled the province with 80.79 percent of the vote. By 2014
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