The African National Congress (ANC) is the Republic of South Africa's governing social democratic political party. It has been the ruling party of post-apartheid South Africa on the national level since 1994, including the election of Nelson Mandela as president from 1994-1999. In the 2004 general election the ANC won 69.7% of the votes, in the 2009 general election it won 65.9% of the votes, and in 2014 it won 62.15% of the votes.