Africa National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela declares victory as the ANC wins South Africa’s first democratic elections. Mandela becomes the country’s first president. The lack of a voter rolls made verifying the results of the election difficult, and the final results are a negotiated compromise between the parties, rather than a completely accurate count of ballots cast. However, future historians will believe the results, which give the ANC 62% of the vote, just shy of the 2/3 majority needed to allow the ANC to run government and write the new national constitution on its own, “prevented a civil war.” Instead, the ANC must create a Government of National Unity with its rival the Inkatha Freedom Party, which wins the KwaZulu-Natal province, and the National Party, which wins 20% of the vote.