FACTBOX - Facts about South Africa's election

(Reuters) - South Africans vote in national and provincial elections on Wednesday with the ruling ANC expected to win, but with a reduced majority.

Below are facts about the election and the voting process.

TWO-TIER ELECTION

* Voters will be voting in national and provincial elections. Voting is under a proportional system where parties submit lists of candidates to fill 400 seats in the National Assembly, and for provincial parliaments in South Africa's nine provinces.

* Parties will fill 200 of the National Assembly seats according to the national vote and another 200 seats in line with provincial support.

* Twenty-six parties will contest the election for the National Assembly and 11 parties will contest the ballot for the National Assembly and for all nine provincial legislatures.

* Parties have nominated 9,289 candidates for the national and provincial election, 61.6 percent of them male and 38.4 percent female.

2004 ELECTION RESULTS

* The ANC won 69.69 percent of the vote in the previous election held in 2004. The Democratic Alliance polled 12.37 percent of the vote, the Inkatha Freedom Party 6.97 percent and the United Democratic Movement 2.28 percent.