South Africa's ruling party African National Congress (ANC) is almost certain to win the April 22 election, but it still faces the biggest challenge since coming to power at the end of apartheid in 1994, according to latest surveys.

Jacob Zuma, president of the African National Congress (ANC), answers questions during his last press conference before the general elections in Johannesburg, April 21, 2009. South Africa will hold the general elections on Wednesday. [Xu Suhu/Xinhua]

The key issue is whether it can retain the two-thirds majority in parliament which it has kept for long in its 15-year ruling in South Africa.

As the governing party, the ANC has always focused on reconciliation, stability and development; resolving ethnic problems properly; improving black people's political and economic situations.

Some pollings showed that the ANC still dominates politics in South Africa and is expected to obtain 60 percent of the votes in the forthcoming election.

Compared to the ANC, other parties in the election seem relatively weak in power.

The new breakaway Congress of the People (COPE) party formed by ANC dissidents last year, may pose the biggest challenge to the ANC in the election. It could reduce the ANC's dominance in parliament in the face of growing public anger over graft, poor services, poverty and crime.

People pass by posters of presidential candidates in Johannesburg, April 21, 2009. South Africa will hold the general elections on Wednesday. [Xu Suhui/Xinhua]

However, state prosecutors have given the ANC a boost in earlier April by dropping graft charges against the party leader Jacob Zuma, paving the way for him to be elected president.

COPE has changed the political landscape, but some analysts said its chances of breaking the ANC's dominance have faded after an initial buzz.

Recent polling has shown that as a party set up in just a few months, the COPE could only draw eight percent to 12 percent of the votes with some polls placing the party at six percent.

South African main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) only won 12 percent of the votes in the last election in 2004 election and it is normally regarded as a white-dominated party, just winning limited support in black voters.

So DA leader Helen Zille has just set a goal for her party of preventing the ANC from gripping a two-thirds majority in parliament which it needs to rewrite the constitution.

However, internal split has become the main reason which causes the ANC's support decreased. The party was rocked by internal feuding between party leader Zuma and former president Thabo Mbeki and split late last year with the creation of COPE.

Meanwhile, South African people are growingly concerned about unemployment, HIV/AIDS, crime, poverty, corruption among others.

The unemployment in South Africa is likely to be 20 percent, with some estimates saying 40 percent.

HIV and AIDS are major health concerns in South Africa. The South African National HIV Survey estimated that 10.8 percent of all South Africans over two years old were living with HIV in 2005, and South Africa ranked fifth in terms of HIV/AIDS prevalence globally.

Crime has had a pronounced effect on the South African society: many middle-class South Africans moved into gated communities, abandoning the central business districts of some cities for the relative security of suburbs.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2009)