South Africa’s general election will be held on April 22, President Kgalema Motlanthe announced today.

The election, which will likely see the ruling ANC’s Jacob Zuma be voted in as South Africa’s next president, will also be the first since the formation of new political party COPE.

There had been speculation that the election would be announced on Friday, when President Motlanthe gave his first, and most probably his last, state-of-the-nation address.

A ruling that South African citizens living abroad were not allowed to vote in the general election has also now been deemed unconstitutional, meaning the country’s expatriates should be able to vote for the first time in a general election.