(24 Apr 09 - RV) South Africa's long-dominant governing party is looking to do as
well or even better than in past elections. Preliminary results from the 12.63 million
ballots counted so far from Wednesday's election showed that Jacob Zuma's African
National Congress party was leading the vote with nearly 67 percent. Parliament elects
South Africa's president by a simple majority, putting Zuma in line for the post when
the new assembly votes in May. Mike Pothier is the research coordinator for the
parliamentary office of the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He says that
Zuma brings both positive and negative changes to the country.