Who is Jacob Zuma, the former South African president disqualified from next week's election?

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Former South African President Jacob Zuma was barred Monday from running for Parliament in next week’s national election over a previous criminal conviction, the latest twist in his return to politics.

The decision by the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, may still be appealed. It ruled that Zuma is only eligible to serve as a lawmaker five years after his 2021 sentence for contempt of court was completed.

Zuma is now the leader of a new party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party, and is campaigning against the long-ruling African National Congress he once led.

Analysts say the ANC, which has comfortably held power since Nelson Mandela became the country’s first Black president in 1994, might receive less than 50% of votes in next Wednesday’s election and lose its parliamentary majority.

That would be the ANC’s worst electoral performance since it came into power in South Africa at the end of apartheid.