Millions vote in South African municipal elections as ANC faces a reckoning

Millions of South Africans went to the polls to choose their municipal governments, a vote France 24's evening edition framed as a crucial test for the ruling African National Congress. Ballots were cast across the country as voters picked the local councils that run their towns and cities.

The election lands as a nationwide scorecard on the ANC, the party that has dominated South African politics since the end of apartheid. Municipal races are fought ward by ward, but the outcome is read nationally as a signal of how much room the ruling party still has.

In the same edition, France 24 reported that Ethiopia has expelled six Sudanese diplomats. According to that reporting, Ethiopia stands accused of allowing Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to launch drone strikes from its territory.

The broadcast also flagged a deepening humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, where renewed fighting has displaced thousands of people. No casualty figures or details on the scale of the displacement were given in the program.

No election results were reported in the edition. Counting in municipal contests typically determines who controls local budgets, services and contracts — and, this time, how steady the ANC's grip looks.