2014 Six Nations Championship, Participants
1 Replaced original captain Thierry Dusautoir who was ruled out of the Six Nations ahead of the tournament due to tearing a tendon in his right biceps. 2 Except the opening week fixture against Scotland as he was ruled out as he suffered from a chest infection. Jamie Heaslip was captain of the fixture. 3 Except the round 4 match against Ireland as he was injured. Marco Bortolami was captain for that match. 4 Except for the round 2 match against England and the round 3 match against Italy as he was dropped. Greig Laidlaw was captain of those matches. Brown returned as captain for the last two matches against France and Wales. 5 Except for the opening match against Italy as he did not captain as he had not recovered from a shoulder injury. Alun Wyn Jones was captain for that match.


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures
The 2014 Six Nations Championship saw the return of a Friday night fixture, last seen during the 2011 Six Nations Championship, where Wales faced France in the third week of the championship at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 1
Touch judges:Glen Jackson (New Zealand)Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)Television match official:Iain Ramage (Scotland)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 1
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Stuart Berry (South Africa)Television match official:Jim Yuille (Scotland)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 1
Touch judges:Jaco Peyper (South Africa)Mike Fraser (New Zealand)Television match official:Carlo Damasco (Italy)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 2
Touch judges:Glen Jackson (New Zealand)JP Doyle (England)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 2
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Mike Fraser (New Zealand)Television match official:Eric Gauzins (France)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 2
Touch judges:Craig Joubert (South Africa)Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)Television match official:Gareth Simmonds (Wales)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 3
Touch judges:John Lacey (Ireland)Dudley Phillips (Ireland)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 3
Touch judges:Jérôme Garcès (France)Luke Pearce (England)Television match official:Geoff Warren (England)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 3
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)Leighton Hodges (Wales)Television match official:Jim Yuille (Scotland)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 4
Touch judges:Pascal Gauzère (France)Greg Garner (England)Television match official:Geoff Warren (England)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 4
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)JP Doyle (England)Television match official:Gareth Simmonds (Wales)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 4
Touch judges:Steve Walsh (Australia)Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)Television match official:Simon McDowell (Ireland)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 5
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Leighton Hodges (Wales)Television match official:Simon McDowell (Ireland)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 5
Touch judges:Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Greg Garner (England)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Fixtures, Round 5
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Marius Mitrea (Italy)Television match official:Gareth Simmonds (Wales)


2014 Six Nations Championship, Media coverage
In the United Kingdom, BBC One televised all the matches live. There was a forum show on the BBC Red Button for satellite and cable viewers after several matches. Wales matches were televised live in Welsh on S4C.


2014 Six Nations Championship, Media coverage
Elsewhere, the tournament's matches were televised live by France Télévisions in France, RTÉ in Ireland and DMAX in Italy in the first year of a four-year contract.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads
This is a list of the complete squads for the 2014 Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union tournament contested by the national rugby teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Wales are the defending champions.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads
Note: Number of caps and players' ages are indicated as of 1 February 2014 – the tournament's opening day.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, England
On 9 January, England announced their 35-man Squad for the 2014 Six Nations Championship, including 5 uncapped players.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, England
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, England, Call Ups
On 2 February, Freddie Burns was added to the squad for the Scotland match in round 2.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, England, Call Ups
On 16 February, David Wilson was added to the squad to replace the injured Dan Cole.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, England, Call Ups
On 3 March, Manu Tuilagi and Marland Yarde was added to the squad for the round 4 clash with Wales.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, England, Call Ups
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France
On 6 January 2014, France named a 30-man squad for the 2014 Six Nations Championship. Additional players maybe added to the squad throughout the tournament due to the new selection formart the FFR uses during the Six Nations and End-of-year tests.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France, Call Ups
On 20 January, Captain Thierry Dusautoir and Wing Sofiane Guitoune withdrew from the squad due to injury and were replaced by Virgile Bruni and Jean-Marcellin Buttin. Pascal Papé was named the new Captain. On 25 January, François Trinh-Duc was called up to the squad to cover Rémi Tales, who will miss the opening match against England due to injury.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France, Call Ups
On 10 February, Ibrahim Diarra and Alexandre Lapandry were added to the squad for the round 3 clash with Wales. In addition to Diarra and Lapandry, Marc Andreu, Vincent Debaty, Wenceslas Lauret and Brice Mach were also called up to the squad to face Wales.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France, Call Ups
On 24 February, Antonie Claassen, Rémi Lamerat and Morgan Parra were added to the squad for the final two rounds against Scotland and Ireland.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France, Call Ups
Following an injury Dimitri Szarzewski sustained while playing for his club, Guilhem Guirado was called up to the squad on the 2 March to replace Szarzewski for the clash against Scotland.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, France, Call Ups
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland
On 27 January 2014, Ireland announced an extended 34-man squad for the 2014 Six Nations Championship. Additional players could be added, as the first original 34-man squad was only named for the opening two fixtures; Scotland and Wales.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland, Call Ups
On 29 January, Isaac Boss was added to the squad to cover the injured Eoin Reddan who suffered from a calf injury in training.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland, Call Ups
On 17 February, Dave Kilcoyne and Donnacha Ryan were added to the squad to face England in round 3.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland, Call Ups
On 2 March, Robbie Diack, Richardt Strauss and Simon Zebo were called up into the squad that would play Italy in round 4.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland, Call Ups
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy
On 9 January, Italy announced a 30-man squad for the 2014 Six Nations Championship, featuring 2 uncapped players, and the return of Mirco Bergamasco.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy, Call Ups
Francesco Minto was added to the squad on 21 January to cover the injured Marco Fuser who twisted his knee in the Heineken Cup. Matías Agüero was added to the squad to play Scotland to cover the injured Michele Rizzo.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy, Call Ups
On 3 March, George Biagi, Andrea Masi, Tito Tebaldi and Manoa Vosawai was added to the squad with Biagi replacing the injured Alessandro Zanni.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy, Call Ups
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland
On January 15, Scotland announced a 36-man squad for the 2014 Six Nations Championship, including 2 uncapped players.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland, Call Ups
On 17 February, Jack Cuthbert was added to the squad to face Italy in round 3.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland, Call Ups
On 3 March, Euan Murray returned to the squad after recovering from an injury he sustained in January. Edinburgh half-back pairing Sean Kennedy and Harry Leonard was also invited to train with the squad ahead of the French match.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland, Call Ups
Ahead of the final round, Lee Jones and Richie Vernon were considered to play among the backs against Wales.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland, Call Ups
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Wales
On 14 January, Wales named a 32-man squad for the 2014 Six Nations Championship


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Wales
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Wales, Call Ups
On 20 January, Ryan Jones was withdrawn from the squad due to injury and was replaced with James King. Second rower Jake Ball, who is eligible to play for the Wales through his Welsh born father, was also added to the squad for Ian Evans.


2014 Six Nations Championship squads, Wales, Call Ups
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2014 Six Nations Under 20s Championship
The 2014 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was a rugby union competition held in   January, February and March 2014. France won the tournament and the Grand Slam while England won a Triple Crown.


2014 Six-red World Championship
The 2014 Six-red World Championship (often styled the 2014 SangSom 6-red World Championship for sponsorship and marketing purposes) was a six-red snooker tournament held between 1 and 6 September 2014 at the Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.


2014 Six-red World Championship
Mark Selby was to take part in the tournament, but he was replaced by Andrew Pagett due to a stomach bug.


2014 Six-red World Championship
Mark Davis was the defending champion, but lost 2–6 against Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn in the last 16.


2014 Six-red World Championship
Stephen Maguire won in the final 8–7 against Ricky Walden.


2014 Six-red World Championship, Prize money
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


2014 Six-red World Championship, Round-robin stage
The top four players from each group qualified for the knock-out stage. All matches were best of 9 frames.


2014 Skate America
The 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America was the first event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on October 24–26. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final.


2014 Skate Canada International
The 2014 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia on October 31 – November 2. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final.


2014 Sky Blue FC season
The 2014 Sky Blue FC season was the team's fifth season of existence. Sky Blue played the 2014 season in National Women's Soccer League, the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.


2014 Sky Blue FC season, Background
The foundation of the National Women's Soccer League was announced on November 21, 2012, with Sky Blue FC selected as a host for one of the eight teams.


2014 Sky Blue FC season, Match results, Standings, Results summary
Last updated: April 27, 2014Source: , Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won;  T = Matches tied;  L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference


2014 Sky Blue FC season, Team, Roster
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sky Blue FC season, Team, Squad statistics
Key to positions: FW – Forward, MF – Midfielder, DF – Defender, GK – Goalkeeper


2014 Skycity Triple Crown
The 2014 Skycity Triple Crown was a motor race meeting for the Australian sedan-based V8 Supercars. It was the sixth event of the 2014 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on the weekend of 20–22 June at the Hidden Valley Raceway, near Darwin, Northern Territory.


2014 Skyrunner World Series
The 2014 Skyrunner World Series was the 13th edition of the global skyrunning competition, Skyrunner World Series, organised by the International Skyrunning Federation from 2002.


2014 Skyrunning World Championships
The 2014 Skyrunning World Championships was the 2nd edition of the global skyrunning competition, Skyrunning World Championships, organised by the International Skyrunning Federation and was held in French side of Mont Blanc from 27 to 29 July 2014.


2014 Sligo County Council election
An election to Sligo County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 18 councilors were elected from two electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office.


2014 Sligo County Council election
Ahead of the 2014 election Sligo was redrawn into two electoral areas, a reduction in three from five, and the number of councilors was reduced to 18, from a previous total of 25. The Sligo Borough Council was also abolished. Fianna Fáil had a very good election, increasing their seat numbers by 1 to 8 seats. Sinn Féin gained 1 seat, as did People Before Profit, and Independents increased their numbers by 1 seat to 4. In contrast, Fine Gael lost 9 seats, being reduced to just 3 Councillors, while the Labour Party suffered a wipe out, losing representation on the council for the first time since 1912.


2014 Slough Borough Council election
The 2014 Slough Borough Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Slough Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.


2014 Slough Borough Council election
The whole council (42 seats) was up for election due to a re-drawing of boundaries and an increase from 41 councillors.


2014 Slovak Cup Final
The 2014 Slovnaft Cup Final was the final match of the 2013–14 Slovak Cup, the 45th season of the top cup competition in Slovak football. The match was played at the Stadium Myjava in Myjava on 1 May 2014 between ŠK Slovan Bratislava and MFK Košice. MFK Košice defeated Slovan Bratislava 2-1.


2014 Slovak Cup Final, Match, Details
Assistant referees:  Martin Balko  Dušan KubačkaFourth official:  Dušan HrčkaAdditional assistant referees:  TBA  TBA


2014 Slovak Open
The 2014 Slovak Open was a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 15th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2014 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Bratislava, Slovakia between 3 and 9 November 2014.


2014 Slovak Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Slovak Open – Doubles
Henri Kontinen and Andreas Siljeström were the defending champions, but they did not compete that year. Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski won the title, defeating Norbert Gombos and Adam Pavlásek in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–3).


2014 Slovak Open – Singles
Peter Gojowczyk won the title, beating Farrukh Dustov 7–6(7–2), 6–3.


2014 Slovak presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Slovakia on 15 March 2014, with a second round on 29 March 2014.


2014 Slovak presidential election
After a first round, in which no candidate secured majority, Robert Fico and Andrej Kiska qualified to second round. On 29 March 2014, Kiska won the second round of the elections after securing 59.39% of the popular vote, compared to Fico's 40.61%.


2014 Slovak presidential election
Kiska succeeded incumbent Ivan Gašparovič, who was unable to run due to term limits established by the Constitution.


2014 Slovak presidential election, First round, Candidates
All candidates who wished to contest the presidency were required to collect no less than 15.000 individual signatures in order to qualify for the race. In addition they had to officially submit their candidacy to the election commission in writing no later than 9 January 2014. At least one would-be candidate, Leonid Chovanec, a citizen from Košice who intended to run as an independent candidate, gave up his candidacy on January 6 citing "unequal conditions for people in their access to the candidacy for the post of president”. He did not manage to collect the 15,000 signatures to support his presidential bid. On January 9, Speaker of parliament Pavol Paska officially announced that the following candidates had been approved.


2014 Slovak presidential election, First round, Campaign
The political right was fragmented; the People’s Platform (an alliance of three right-wing parties) failed to agree on a common candidate. Christian Democratic Movement and Most-Hid announced that they supported Pavol Hrušovský, but the third party, Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ-DS) originally refused to agree. According to multiple sources, SDKÚ would have preferred former Prime Minister Iveta Radičová as their candidate, however, she made clear that she did not want to run for president again. Later, after Fico announced its candidacy, SDKÚ-DS eventually decided to support Hrušovský. Shortly before first round of elections some members of SDKÚ-DS and Most-Híd suggested their supporters should choose different candidate in the upcoming elections, following polls which gave Hrušovský only small chance of progressing to second round.


2014 Slovak presidential election, First round, Campaign, Robert Fico
The ruling Smer party selected incumbent Prime Minister Robert Fico as its official candidate. According to opinion polls, Fico dominated his opponents, who were divided, and he would advance to the second round with a double digit lead. In addition, polls showed that he was most likely to win the presidential election. However, his party would have had to replace him as PM and party leader, meaning that Smer would have had to produce a popular and credible leader to follow Fico. As early as February, Fico was endorsed by the National trade union center when The Confederation of Labour Unions (KOZ) officially called upon its members to vote for Prime Minister Robert Fico.


2014 Slovak presidential election, First round, Campaign, Andrej Kiska
Andrej Kiska was the first candidate to officially announce his presidential candidacy and his billboards appeared around Slovakia long before the names of his competitors were known. He was officially running as an independent candidate and had no political background whatsoever. Prior to the first round Kiskas campaign mostly stressed his independence, including his financial independence, which mean that he didn't have to report to any political parties. Furthermore, he promoted his lack of political involvement as one of his strengths, while his website featured the slogan “The First Independent President”. Eventually, Andrej Kiska won the election on 29 March with nearly 60% of the popular vote, becoming the first president in the history of Slovak republic never to have been a member of the Communist Party, nor any other political party.


2014 Slovak presidential election, First round, Campaign, Radoslav Procházka
The young constitutional lawyer Prochazka, who campaigned as the conservative candidate, was formerly a member with the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), but ran as an independent. His campaign mainly targeted the large catholic population, with issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and traditional family values. His campaign also stressed his youth as a strength, as well as his background as a constitutional lawyer, with his official slogans reading: "A young president? Why not!" (Slovak: Mladý prezident? Prečo nie!) and "Strong president. I will protect your rights!" (Slovak: Silný prezident. Budem chrániť vaše práva!)


2014 Slovak presidential election, First round, Campaign, Peter Osuský
The Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party announced on 11 June 2013 that Peter Osuský would be their candidate for the presidency. Due to poor results in polls, Osuský decided to pull off his candidature. SaS reacted by supporting Radoslav Procházka for upcoming first round of elections.


2014 Slovak presidential election, Second round
During the second round all independent candidates and some right-wing parties supported Kiska. These candidates secured more than 60% votes including the ones received by Kiska in first round. Fico secured 12% more votes than in the first round. High turn out in second round helped Kiska defeat Fico by 20 points.


2014 Slovak presidential election, Second round, Campaign
The second round of the election, which pitted Robert Fico against Andrej Kiska, saw the candidates engage in a series of televised presidential debates. Fico repeatedly accused Kiska of having links to the Church of Scientology, but stopped short of calling him a member. Kiska however, confirmed his Catholic faith, and filed criminal charges against Fico. All the defeated candidates from the first round subsequently backed Kiska, while international social-democrats such as French president Francois Hollande and Speaker of the European Parliament Martin Schultz endorsed Fico.


2014 Slovenian Football Cup Final
The 2014 Slovenian Cup Final was the final match of the 2013–14 Slovenian Cup, the 23rd edition of the Slovenian Football Cup, the top knockout tournament of Slovenian football and the second most important football competition in the country after the Slovenian PrvaLiga championship. The match was played on Wednesday, 21 May 2014 at the Bonifika Stadium in Koper, Slovenia and was won by Gorica who defeated Maribor with the score 2–0. This was the third cup title for the side from Nova Gorica and the first trophy they have won since the 2005–06 season when they were league champions.


2014 Slovenian Football Cup Final, Venue
The match was played at the Bonifika Stadium, a 4,047 all-seater stadium in Koper, where the previous final was held. The stadium is part of Bonifika sports complex, together with a smaller athletics stadium, indoor hall and an indoor swimming pool. The stadium was originally built in 1947 and was completely renovated in 2010.


2014 Slovenian Football Cup Final, Background
The final was played between Maribor and Gorica. Maribor were the defending champions, they have won the 2012–13 cup edition. In addition, Maribor is the most successful team in history of the competition, having won eight titles and were runners-up on three occasions. Gorica have won the title two times, the last time they were successful was in the 2001–02 season, and were runners-up during the 2004–05 season.


2014 Slovenian Football Cup Final, Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.


2014 Slovenian Supercup
The 2014 Slovenian Supercup was the tenth edition of the Slovenian Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Slovenian PrvaLiga and Slovenian Cup competitions. The match was played on 13 August 2014 at the Nova Gorica Sports Park stadium in Nova Gorica between the 2013–14 Slovenian Cup winners Gorica and the 2013–14 Slovenian PrvaLiga winners Maribor.


2014 Slovenian archives law referendum
A referendum on the archive law was held in Slovenia on 8 June 2014. Voters were asked whether they were in favor of the amendments to the law that were passed in January 2014. The amendments were rejected by 67% of voters, although the referendum was invalidated by "no" voters accounting for only 7.79% of all registered voters, well below the 20% quorum.


2014 Slovenian archives law referendum, Background
The referendum was initiated by Eva Irgl, an MP for the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), following a decision by the National Assembly on 28 January 2014 to amend the law on the national archives. The amendment would result in the anonymisation of personal data of people working for and victims of the Yugoslav-era secret services. The party collected over 40,000 signatures, enough to force a referendum.


2014 Slovenian archives law referendum, Background
The referendum was originally set to be held on 4 May following a decree in the National Assembly. However, the SDS appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that the date was inappropriate, as early voting would coincide with the May Day public holiday. The appeal was unanimously upheld by the Court, who ordered the National Assembly to set a new date within seven days. The Court also ruled against the National Assembly claim that the referendum could not be held in parallel with the European Parliament elections on 25 May.


2014 Slovenian archives law referendum, Background
This date had been favoured by the referendum's initiators, as a constitutional amendment in 2012 had introduced new quorum requirement requiring a minimum turnout for a law to be rejected. The Constitution states that a law is rejected in a referendum if a majority of voters who have cast valid votes vote against the law, provided at least one fifth of all qualified voters have voted against.


2014 Slovenian archives law referendum, Background
On 24 April the National Assembly approved holding the referendum on 8 June. The SDS claimed it would challenge the new date in the Supreme Court.


2014 Slovenian archives law referendum, Results
Although a majority of voters who cast valid votes voted against the law, the second constitutional requirement that at least one fifth of all qualified voters have voted against the law was not met.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 13 July 2014 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. The early election, less than three years after the previous one, was called following the resignation of Alenka Bratušek's government in May. Seventeen parties participated, including seven new parties, some of which formed only months before the election took place. Party of Miro Cerar (SMC), a new party led by lawyer and professor Miro Cerar, won the election with over 34% of the vote and 36 seats. Seven political parties won seats in the National Assembly. Three political parties left the Assembly, including Zoran Janković's Positive Slovenia, the winner of the 2011 election. A leftist United Left party entered the Assembly for the first time, winning six seats.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Background
After the previous elections in 2011, a right-leaning five-party coalition government was formed, composed of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), Civic List (DL), Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), Slovenian People's Party (SLS), and New Slovenia (NSi.) Janez Janša, the president of the SDS, became Prime Minister. Janša's government collapsed on 27 February 2013 after he was accused of corruption. Janša was later sentenced to 2 years in prison, and fined €37,000.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Background
A new government was formed by Positive Slovenia (PS), the Social Democrats (SD), DL, and DeSUS. PS leader Alenka Bratušek became Prime Minister. On 25 April 2014, congress of Pozitivna Slovenija was held in Brdo pri Kranju. The main agenda was the election of the next president of the party. Two candidates applied for the post: previous president Zoran Janković and the incumbent Alenka Bratušek. Coalition parties SD, DL and DeSUS threatened to leave the government if Jankovič were elected. Janković was indeed elected, triggering Bratušek's formal resignation as the PM on 5 May.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Background
On 1 June 2014 president of Slovenia Borut Pahor announced the dissolution of the Assembly on 2 June and that the election would take place on 13 July. Pahor's decision to call the election during a summer month triggered some opposition from civil initiatives, however, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia backed the election date.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Background
Several new political parties entered the election, including Party of Miro Cerar (SMC) which was formally established on 2 June, and Alliance of Alenka Bratušek (ZaAB), a splinter party from Positive Slovenia, that was established on 31 May. United Left, Verjamem, and the Pirate Party took place for the first time in the European Parliament election on 25 May and participated in the national election as well. Solidarity Party agreed to enter the election together with Social Democrats, which earlier entered into an alliance with DeSUS, albeit with separate candidates lists.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Background
Janez Janša began serving his two-year prison sentence on 20 June, which, according to the media, influenced the campaign of his party.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
The Party of Miro Cerar (SMC) won a plurality in the election by a large margin with 36 seats. The only party that managed to win a higher percentage of the votes was Janez Drnovšek's Liberal Democracy of Slovenia at the 2000 election. Janša's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) came second, losing 5 seats in comparison with the 2011 election. The difference between the first two parties turned out to be higher than most of opinion polls predicted. DeSUS placed third with 10 seats, the best result in party's history.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
United Left won 6 seats, with tracking polls showing gaining the momentum in the last days before the election. The Social Democrats lost 4 seats and obtained their worst election result. New Slovenia won an additional mandate and the Alliance of Alenka Bratušek managed to win 4 seats. The Slovenian People's Party, Positive Slovenia (the winner of the 2011 election), and Civic List all failed to retain seats in the Assembly. All other parties also failed to reach the 4% threshold. Turnout was slightly below 51%, the lowest since Slovenian independence. On the other hand, a record 3.9% of voters voted in the early election.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
In accordance with the Constitution of Slovenia, two seats are allocated to the Italian and Hungarian national communities, with one representative given to each community. Members of the Italian community elected Roberto Battelli as their representative, and members of the Hungarian community elected László Göncz. They were the sole candidates.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
Following the results, Miro Cerar (the likely new Prime Minister) stated he perceives the large public support as a responsibility. He said he was open to enter coalition talks with all parties, except the SDS, which is "directly undermining the rule of legal institutions". Zvonko Černač of SDS said in his first reaction that the party considers the election result as illegitimate, since the party president was in prison for corruption after what SDS considered a politically motivated process.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
Karl Erjavec of DeSUS stated that the party is ready to enter the coalition talks and that they will protect the pension funds. United Left, which was positively surprised by their result, stated that they are willing to participate in a government, although they won't compromise on their political programme. Dejan Židan of the Social Democrats was disappointed with the results, saying he had expected SD to score higher. New Slovenia and ZaAB both perceived their results as a success. Franc Bogovič of the Slovenian People's Party was surprised by the fact that the party missed the required 4% of the vote, albeit only barely, and stated that he will not run for the party president at the congress.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
International media noted that the winner of the election is a political newcomer and that his success is "punishment by voters for the traditional parties, tarnished by corruption scandals and years of economic turmoil". Cerar was seen as a politician untarnished by the corruption scandals. Media also noted that Cerar opposes selling controlling stakes of strategic infrastructure, such as telecoms provider Telekom Slovenia and the international airport, Aerodrom Ljubljana, and stressed that one of his main tasks will be to reduce the national budget deficit.


2014 Slovenian parliamentary election, Results
Croatian media drew parallels between Cerar and Drnovšek, hoping that Cerar will return political culture, tolerance, and mutual respect into Slovenian politics. Jutarnji List saw the main reason for the defeat of SDS in the fact that the party has relied too much on the imprisoned party president. The Wall Street Journal stated that the most likely coalition partners would be the Social Democrats and DeSUS while Slovenian journal Finance suggested that the best coalition would be with the Social Democrats, New Slovenia, and ZaAB. A coalition government of SMC, DeSUS and the Social Democrats was formed in September.


2014 Snooker Shoot-Out
The 2014 888casino Snooker Shoot Out was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 26 January 2014 at the Circus Arena in Blackpool. It was played under a  variation of the standard rules of snooker.


2014 Snooker Shoot-Out
Martin Gould was the defending champion, but he lost 14–40 against Zhang Anda in round one.


2014 Snooker Shoot-Out
Dominic Dale won the final 1–0 (77–19) against Stuart Bingham.


2014 Snooker Shoot-Out, Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


2014 Snooker Shoot-Out, Draw
The draw for round one was made on 8 December 2013 and was broadcast live by Talksport. The draw for each round including the semi-finals was made at random, conducted live at the venue. All times are UTC. There was only one century break during the tournament. Ryan Day made a 101 break against Kurt Maflin.


2014 Sochi GP2 and GP3 Series rounds
The 2014 Sochi GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races that were held on October 11 and 12, 2014 at the Sochi Autodrom in Sochi, Russia as part of the GP2 Series. It was the penultimate round of the 2014 GP2 Series season, and the race weekend was run in support of the Russian Grand Prix.


2014 Sochi GP2 and GP3 Series rounds
Jolyon Palmer won the GP2 Series' feature race, and in doing so, secured enough points to win the 2014 drivers' title. Dean Stoneman won the GP3 Series' feature race from pole position.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season
The 2014 season was the 100th in Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras existence. This season marked the Palmeiras return to the top flight of Brazilian football after being promoted from 2013 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B. Palmeiras also competed in the state league, Campeonato Paulista, and Copa do Brasil.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Players, Squad information
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Friendlies, Copa EuroAmericana
The Copa EuroAmericana is a friendly tournament created by DirecTV that take place in South America and North America on 20 July – 2 August 2014. Thirteen teams from CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and UEFA participate in it. Palmeiras will play only one match in the tournament.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Campeonato Paulista, First stage
In the first stage, the teams played in a group with all of the clubs of other groups in a single round, qualifying for the quarter-final the 2 teams with the most points won this stage in each of the groups.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Campeonato Paulista, Quarterfinals
Each tie, apart from the final was played over two legs, and the team with the best campaign playing the second leg at home. The quarterfinals was played between the winners and runners-up of each group. In the semifinals the best team (first) faced the team with the worst campaign (fourth), while the second faced the team with the third best campaign.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Copa do Brasil
The competition is a single elimination knockout tournament featuring two-legged ties. In the first two rounds, if the away team wins the first match by 2 or more goals, it progresses straight to the next round avoiding the second leg. The away goals rule is also used in the Copa do Brasil. The winner qualifies for the 2015 Copa Libertadores.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Copa do Brasil, Round of 16
For this round a draw will be held, which happened on August 18.


2014 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, Campeonato Brasileiro, Matches
Schedule released on February 6. The first nine rounds (dates, times and stadiums) were detailed on March 18. The matches had a break during the 2014 FIFA World Cup which was held between June and July in Brazil. The competition was played nine rounds before the stoppage.


2014 Soeratin Cup
2014 Soeratin Cup is a football competition which is intended for footballers born before 1 January 1997. The competition is scheduled to begin in August 2014 and ends in December 2014.


2014 Soeratin Cup
PSDS Deli Serdang is the defending champion. Charis Yulianto was chosen to be the ambassador for this tournament.


2014 Soeratin Cup
Jember United U-17 won the championship after beating Persis Solo U-17 3–1 in the final. Gian Zola Nasrulloh became top scorer with nine goals and Faisol Yunus got the Best Player award.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Competition format
It will consists of three rounds, which are the province, regional and national round. The national round will have a group phase and after that semi-finals and final.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, North Sumatra Zone
PS Bintang Jaya U-17 became champion and qualifies for the regional round.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Sumatra Zone
The final was played in Haji Agus Salim Stadium on 9 September 2014. PSP Padang U-17 became the champion and qualify to the regional round.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Bengkulu Zone
Twelve teams will participate and matches will start on 7 October 2014. Matches will be played in Stadion Semarak. Bengkulu Tengah U-17 became champion.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Jambi Zone
Eleven teams will participate and matches will start on 27 September 2014. Matches will be played in Stadion Karya Bhakti. Batang Hari FC became champion.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, South Sumatra Zone
The final was played in Stadion Serasan Sekate on 30 August 2014. Persimuba U-17 became the champion and qualify to the regional round.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Lampung Zone
The matches will be played in Stadion Tejosari in Metro from 20 September until 30 September 2014. Persilat Lampung Tengah U-17 became the champion.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Banten Zone
Four team will participate in this zone. Persikota U-17 became champion of this zone.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone
This zone consists of 25 clubs divided into 5 groups. The top three from each group will go through to the second round and also the top ranked fourth-placed team. Matches will start on 1 September 2014.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, First round
PSB Bogor U-17, Persikasi Bekasi U-17 and Maisa FC U-17 qualified from this group. Sukabumi FC U-17 qualifies as best fourth-placed team.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, First round
Persikabo Bogor U-17, Kabomania U-17 and Blaster FC U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, First round
Persika Karawang U-17, Persipo Purwakarta U-17 and Benpica U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, First round
Bina Putra Sentra Cirebon U-17, Pesik Kuningan U-17 and Persikas Subang U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, First round
Bandung Legend U-17, Persib Bandung U-17 and Persima Majalengka U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, Second round
Matches starting this round until the semi-finals will be played in Stadion Galuh, Ciamis.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, West Java Zone, Final
Final and third-placed matches will be played in Singaperbangsa Stadium, Karawang. Persib Bandung U-17 became champion.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Central Java Zone
Persis Solo U-17 was the champion of the zone and qualified for the national round.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone
Matches for group A will be played at Stadion Diponegoro and Stadion Maron in Banyuwangi. Matches for group D will be played at Stadion Gelora Supriyadi in Blitar.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone
The second round will consists of 12 teams, in which group winners and the best runner-up from all groups will qualify for the knockout stage.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, First round
Jember United U-17 and PSIL Lumajang U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, First round
Persekap Pasuruan U-17 and Persebaya Surabaya U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, First round
Persema 1953 Malang U-17 and Persid Jember U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, First round
Triple S Kediri U-17 and PSBK Blitar U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, First round
Persik Kediri U-17 and Akademi Arema Ngunut Tulungagung U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, First round
Persekam Metro FC U-17 and Persela Lamongan U-17 qualified from this group.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, Second round
This round will be played from 29 September until 3 October 2014.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Java Zone, Final
The final will be played in Madiun on October 14, 2014. Jember United U-17 became champion.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Kalimantan Zone
Group A will be played in Tenggarong and the other group in Sangatta. Winners and runners-up from both groups will qualify to the knockout stage.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Kalimantan Zone, Group stage
Both Kutim U-17 (group winner) and Bontang U-17 (group runner-up) qualified to the semifinals.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Kalimantan Zone, Final
Bontang U-17 qualifies to the regional round after beating Paser U-17 in the semi-final and Kutim U-17 in the final.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, South Sulawesi Zone
Matches will start on 25 September 2014. Semi-finals and final will be played on 6–7 October 2014. Makassar U-17 became champion.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Bali Zone
Five teams participated in this zone. PS Badung U-17 became the champion and qualifies from this zone.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, East Nusa Tenggara Zone
PS Kota Kupang U-17 won the zone and qualifies for the next round.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, North Maluku Zone
Seven teams will participate in this zone and all the matches will be played in Gelora Kieraha Stadium. Persiter U-17 qualified from this zone.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Province round, Maluku Zone
Nusa Ina U-17 was the champion of this zone. They finished first in the group that consists of two other teams with eight points but having more goal difference than Persenal U-17.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Regional round, Regional V
PS Kota Kupang U-17 and PS Badung U-17 qualified to the next round as winner and runner-up respectively.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Regional round, Regional VI
PSM Makassar U-17 and Persigo Gorontalo U-17 qualified to the next round as winner and runner-up respectively.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Regional round, Regional VII
Bontang FC U-17 and Persepan Pagatan U-17 qualified from this region.


2014 Soeratin Cup, Regional round, Regional VIII
Persiter U-17 and Nusa Ina U-17 both qualified from the region as winner and runner-up respectively.


2014 Soeratin Cup, National round
16 teams from the regional round will compete in two stages before the semi-finals and final using home tournament format. Matches for the first stage will be played from 14–19 November 2014, the second stage and knockout stage will be played from 22 November 2014.


2014 Soeratin Cup, National round, First stage, Group 3
Bontang FC U-17 and Nusa Ina U-17 qualified from this region.


2014 Soeratin Cup, National round, First stage, Group 4
Persiter U-17 and Persigo Gorontalo U-17 qualified from this region.


2014 Soeratin Cup, National round, Knockout stage
Quarterfinal matches will be played in Bandung and Malang. Sidoarjo will host semifinal and final matches.


2014 Sogndal Fotball season
The 2014 season was Sogndal's fourth consecutive season in the Tippeligaen. They finished the season in 15th place, being relegated to the OBOS-ligaen, whilst also reaching the Fourth Round of the Norwegian Cup where they were beaten by Viking.


2014 Sogndal Fotball season, Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sogndal Fotball season, Transfers, Winter
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sogndal Fotball season, Transfers, Winter
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sogndal Fotball season, Transfers, Summer
In:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sogndal Fotball season, Transfers, Summer
Out:Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election
Elections to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 22 May 2014, alongside European elections.


2014 Solomon Islands general election
General elections were held in the Solomon Islands on 19 November 2014. Independent candidates won 32 of the 50 seats in the National Parliament, with the Democratic Alliance Party emerging as the largest party with seven seats.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Background
The elections were assisted by the United Nations Development Programme, who wanted to help with "the development of a sustainable, cost effective and inclusive voter registration system to ensure the integrity of the vote." Previous elections in 2006 were followed by racial rioting, particularly targeting Chinese immigrants.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Electoral system
The 50 members of the National Parliament were elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Electoral system
Voters had to be at least 18 years old and hold Solomon Islands citizenship. Overseas residents could not vote, and people were disqualified for voting if they had committed a breach of the electoral law, been declared insane, were imprisoned for more than six months, or were under a death sentence.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Electoral system
Candidates had to be at least 21 years old and resident in the constituency in which they ran. Disqualifications included holding dual citizenship, being executives or members of the Electoral Commission, having an undischarged bankruptcy, being imprisoned for more than six months, or being under a death sentence.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Campaign
A total of 443 candidates were nominated to contest the elections, a reduction on the 509 that ran in 2010.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Conduct
In March 2014 a biometric voter registration system was introduced. Transparency Solomon Islands claimed that it had received anecdotal evidence of some candidates purchasing numerous ID cards. However, in May the Electoral Commission stated that it had not received any formal complaints.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Conduct
Following the elections, an election official attempted to steal a ballot box as it was taken for counting near Auki. After police started chasing the official, he dropped the box and disappeared into the jungle. The head of the Commonwealth election observers group commended the Solomon Islands for a peaceful election process.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Results
Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo lost his seat in the Gizo-Kolombangara constituency, losing to his nephew Jimson Tanangada of the United Democratic Party.


2014 Solomon Islands general election, Results
As nearly two-thirds of the MPs returned are independent and the incumbent Prime Minister lost his seat, negotiations began to form a coalition government and select a new Prime Minister.


2014 Sony Open Tennis
The 2014 Sony Open Tennis (also known as 2014 Miami Masters) was a professional men and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 30th edition of the Miami Masters, and was part of the Masters 1000 category on the 2014 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Mandatory category on the 2014 WTA Tour. All men and women's events took place at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, United States, from March 17 through March 30, 2014.


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Points and prize money, Prize money
The total commitment prize money for this year's event was $5,649,405 for men and $5,427,105 for women (WTA Tour and ATP World Tour).


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Men's Singles, Seeds
The following are the seeded players. Rankings and seedings are according to ATP rankings on March 17, 2014.


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Men's Singles, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Men's Doubles, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Women's Singles, Seeds
The following are the seeded players. Rankings and seedings are according to WTA rankings on March 3, 2014. Points before is as of March 17, 2014.


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Women's Singles, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Women's Singles, Other entrants
The following players received entry using a protected ranking into the singles main draw:


2014 Sony Open Tennis, Players, Women's Doubles, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Doubles
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer were the defending champions, but chose not to participate together. Qureshi played alongside Rohan Bopanna, but lost in the second round to Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah. Rojer teamed up with Horia Tecău, but lost in the first round to Julien Benneteau and Édouard Roger-Vasselin. Bob and Mike Bryan won the title, defeating Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah in the final, 7–6(10–8), 6–4.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Singles
The 2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Singles was the main men's event of the 2014 Sony Open Tennis tennis tournament played in Key Biscane, USA from March 17 through March 30, 2014.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Singles
Andy Murray was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Novak Djokovic. Djokovic went on to win the title, defeating Rafael Nadal in the final, 6–3, 6–3.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Singles
This was the first tour event of any level in the Open Era where two semifinalists issued walkovers to their opponents, resulting in no matches in the semifinal round.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Singles
The first round match between Jarkko Nieminen and Bernard Tomic lasted 28 minutes and 20 seconds, thus becoming the shortest recorded professional tennis match in Open Era history.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Men's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Women's Doubles
Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik were the defending champions, but they decided not to participate together. Petrova was scheduled to play alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands, but the team withdrew before the first round due to Mattek-Sands's hip injury. Srebotnik teamed up with Květa Peschke, but they lost in the quarterfinals to Cara Black and Sania Mirza.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Women's Doubles
Wildcards Martina Hingis and Sabine Lisicki defeated Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 4–6, 6–4, [10–5] in the final to claim their first title together. The champions saved 7 match points in the quarterfinals. With the victory, Lisicki claimed her third doubles title overall, while it was the 38th for Hingis, and the first since her second professional comeback in the summer of 2013.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Women's Singles
Serena Williams successfully defended her title, beating Li Na in the final, 7–5, 6–1. This was Williams' record seventh Miami title, and was Li's last tournament final before her retirement later in 2014.


2014 Sony Open Tennis – Women's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2014 Sophia Awards
The 2014 Sophia Awards (Portuguese: Prémios Sophia 2014) were the 2014 edition of the Sophia Awards, an award presented by the Portuguese Academy of Cinema to award the best in Portuguese filmmaking. The nominees were announced on September 9 and the award ceremony took place on October 8, 2014 at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon.


2014 Soul Train Music Awards
The 2014 Soul Train Music Awards was held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Centric and BET on November 30, 2014. The ceremony, hosted by media personality Wendy Williams, honored artists in 12 different categories. The nominees were announced October 13, 2014. R&B artist Chris Brown lead with seven nominations, including Best R&B/Soul Male Artist, Song of the Year, and Video of the Year. Beyoncé had six nominations, including Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, and Pharrell Williams has five nominations, including Best R&B/Soul Male Artist of the Year.


2014 South Africa Sevens
The 2014 South Africa Sevens was the second tournament within the 2014-2015 Sevens World Series. It was held over the weekend of 13–14 December 2014 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.


2014 South Africa Sevens, Format
The teams are drawn into four pools of four teams each. Each team plays every other team in their pool once. The top two teams from each pool advance to the Cup/Plate brackets. The bottom two teams from each group go to the Bowl/Shield brackets.


2014 South Africa Sevens, Match officials
The match officials for the 2014 South Africa Sevens are as follows:


2014 South African general election
The 2014 South African general election was held on 7 May 2014, to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures in each province. It was the fifth election held in South Africa under conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994, and also the first held since the death of Nelson Mandela. It was also the first time that South African expatriates were allowed to vote in a South African national election.


2014 South African general election
The National Assembly election was won by the African National Congress (ANC), but with a reduced majority of 62.1%, down from 65.9% in the 2009 election. The official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) increased its share of the vote from 16.7% to 22.2%, while the newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) obtained 6.4% of the vote.


2014 South African general election
Eight of the nine provincial legislatures were won by the ANC. The EFF obtained over 10% of the vote in Gauteng, Limpopo and North West, and beat the DA to second place in the last two. In the other six provinces won by the ANC, the DA obtained second place. This included KwaZulu-Natal, where the DA for the first time beat the Inkatha Freedom Party to second place. In the Western Cape, the only province not won by the ANC, the DA increased its majority from 51.5% to 59.4%.


2014 South African general election, Electoral system
South Africa has a parliamentary system of government; the National Assembly consists of 400 members elected by proportional representation with a closed list approach. Two hundred members are elected from national party lists; the other 200 are elected from provincial party lists in each of the nine provinces. The President of South Africa was chosen by the National Assembly after the election.


2014 South African general election, Electoral system
The provincial legislatures, which vary in size from 30 to 80 members, are also elected by proportional representation with closed lists. The premiers of each province will be chosen by the winning majority in each provincial legislature.


2014 South African general election, Electoral system
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) consists of 90 members, ten elected by each provincial legislature. The NCOP members will be elected by the provincial legislatures in proportion to the party makeup of the legislatures.


2014 South African general election, Electoral system, Changes to electoral legislation
On 26 November 2013 the Electoral Amendment Act, 2013, came into force. It allows South African citizens resident outside South Africa to register and vote in the election of the National Assembly.


2014 South African general election, Electoral system, Changes to electoral legislation
A new regulation added in 2013 that was enforced for the first time on 7 May 2014 is the prohibition of photographing marked ballot papers, which aims to inhibit voter intimidation.


2014 South African general election, Political parties
The governing African National Congress (ANC), supported by its Tripartite Alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), have held a majority of the seats in the National Assembly since 1994. They were re-elected with increasing majorities in 1999 and 2004, and with a slight fall in its majority from 69% to 65.9% in 2009. The ANC is led by Jacob Zuma. In 2012, Zuma was re-elected to a second five-year term as President of the African National Congress, beating his only rival and deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, by a wide margin. Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as Deputy President of the ANC, succeeding Motlanthe who had declined a second term after losing to Zuma.


2014 South African general election, Political parties
The official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) received 16.7% of the vote in 2009, up from 12.4% in 2004. The DA is led by Helen Zille, who was re-elected unopposed as Leader of the Democratic Alliance at the party's Federal Congress in Gauteng in 2012, while Lindiwe Mazibuko continued as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. At provincial level, the DA has been in power in the Western Cape province since 2009, and came to power in several Western Cape municipalities in the 2011 municipal election. Traditionally, the DA was seen as a party rallying against apartheid laws, especially in the 1980s. However, one of its larger following bases are the whites in the south, especially after it absorbed the New National Party in 2001 (although NNP was disbanded in 2004).


2014 South African general election, Political parties
Congress of the People (COPE), is led by Mosiuoa Lekota, although the leadership is disputed by Mbhazima Shilowa who continues to battle for recognition in the High Court. The party has been riven by infighting, causing it to lose much of its support and resulting in the formation of a splinter group, the United Congress. COPE won three seats in the National Assembly in the 2014 elections.


2014 South African general election, Political parties
Mangosuthu Buthelezi remains leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) despite a challenge by former IFP chairperson Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, who formed the National Freedom Party (NFP) after her feud with Buthelezi. The NFP and IFP split the vote in the Zulu-dominated KwaZulu-Natal province in the previous local government elections, each getting an even share of the vote, while the ANC continued to dominate the former IFP stronghold.


2014 South African general election, Political parties
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced on 17 March that a record number of 33 parties had registered candidates for the national parliamentary election. In the provincial legislature elections the number of parties registering candidates, including four parties which had not yet paid the required deposits subject to a 24 March deadline, were:


2014 South African general election, Political parties
The electoral code of conduct was signed in Midrand, Gauteng on 19 March 2014. At the signing event, a draw was held in which the Freedom Front Plus won the right to appear at the top of the ballot paper.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, New parties
Several parties contested the election for the first time and gained seats nationally and provincially:


2014 South African general election, Political parties, New parties
Other new parties were formed but did not obtain seats nationally:


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
The Independent Democrats party, which won four seats and 0.9% of the national vote in 2009, merged with the Democratic Alliance before the 2014 general election.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
On 17 December 2013, the South African Press Association reported that five opposition parties, namely COPE, the IFP, the African Christian Democratic Party, the United Christian Democratic Party and the Freedom Front Plus, had formed a coalition with 20 specific priorities. The parties in the coalition, named the Collective for Democracy (CD) and chaired by COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota, will retain their own identity and contest the election individually. The IFP denied being part of the coalition, saying they were wary of forming such alliances given the confusion it had caused for their supporters in previous elections.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
Three days later, the 20th, COSATU's largest affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) announced that they would not endorse the ANC or any other political party in 2014. NUMSA planned to establish a new working class collective along the lines of the defunct United Democratic Front, with the ultimate goal of forming a socialist party that will contest the 2019 general election. An opposing COSATU faction has obtained a legal opinion on removing NUMSA from COSATU, with significant implications for the country's labour and political landscape.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
On 28 January 2014, the DA announced that Mamphela Ramphele had accepted an invitation to stand as its presidential candidate in the 2014 general election, and the DA and Agang South Africa were set to merge. On the 31st, Ramphele stated that she would not take up DA party membership and would remain the leader of Agang South Africa, resulting in confusion. On 2 February, Helen Zille stated that Ramphele had reneged on her agreement to stand as the DA's presidential candidate. Ramphele subsequently apologised for the reversal of her decision, saying that the timing was not right as the reaction to it had shown people were unable to overcome race-based party politics.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
On 6 February, it was reported that COPE members who support Mbhazima Shilowa's planned to join the United Democratic Movement led by Bantu Holomisa which won four seats in the 2009 election. On 10 March, it was reported that COPE MP Nqaba Bhangu had joined the DA as an Eastern Cape parliamentary candidate, and three COPE MPs, namely Julie Kilian, Leonard Ramatlakane and Nick Koornhof were included on the ANC's list of national parliamentary candidates published on the 11th. On 28 April, it was reported that over 20 COPE MPs had defected to the ANC citing "poor political leadership". The only COPE member in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Lucky Gabela, subsequently also defected to the ANC citing internal conflict.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
On 11 March, Al Jama-ah and the Africa Muslim Party announced they would campaign together under the Al Jama-ah Community Party banner. The next day, it was reported that DA MP Beverley Abrahams had joined the ANC. On the 17th, Economic Freedom Fighters announced agreement to establish working relations with the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) and Black Consciousness Party (BCP), who would not independently stand for elections, but their candidates would be part of the EFF election 2014 candidates list as EFF members. EFF also had members of South Africa First (SAF) in the list who hold dual membership. Although SAF had not agreed to them being on the EFF list, its leadership collective endorsed the lists.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Alliances and defections
On the 20th, it was reported that DA MPs Lourie Bosman, Niekie van den Berg and Theo Coetzee were joining Freedom Front Plus on the party's national candidates list for the 2014 election. On the 30th, it was reported in the Sunday Times that DA MP Mpowele Swathe had joined the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) after his name appeared on election candidate lists for both parties.


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Endorsements
On 2 May 2014, the Mail & Guardian newspaper "urged readers to oppose the ANC" for the first time, to dilute the ruling party's "overweening political power". The editorial cited the support of Cabinet ministers for the controversial proposed "secrecy law" and the ANC's "cynical response to the Nkandla scandal" among its reasons. A Financial Mail editorial published on the same day, cited unemployment and changes in the government's administration and policies which impacted business negatively. It stated "the ANC does not get our endorsement this time" and "our vote goes to the DA".


2014 South African general election, Political parties, Endorsements
An editorial published in The Economist the following day, cited unemployment and an increase in corruption under Zuma's leadership in particular and stated that the ANC and Zuma "no longer deserve to rule" and "The DA deserves to be endorsed." Also on the 2nd, Abahlali baseMjondolo, a social movement representing shack dwellers which previously supported the No Land! No House! No Vote! election boycott campaign, announced its provincial endorsement of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal for the election as a tactical vote against the ANC.


2014 South African general election, Voter registration, Local voters
On the weekends of 9–10 November 2013 and 8–9 February 2014 all voting stations were opened for new voters to register and for those who moved residence to re-register in their new voting district. The presidency of South Africa urged voters who had missed the voting station registration weekends to register at an IEC office during office hours. Presidential spokesperson, Mac Maharaj, said that voters were allowed to register to vote until the election date is published in a government gazette, after which the voters' roll is closed.


2014 South African general election, Voter registration, Local voters
Approximately 5.5 million people in total visited voting stations, including between 1 and 2 million new voters. This increased the number of registered voters to 25.3 million, representing 80.5% of the 31.4 million people eligible to vote in the country. South Africans who were born after the 1994 general election, known as the born-free generation, and are aged 18 or older were eligible to vote for the first time.


2014 South African general election, Voter registration, International voters
South Africans living abroad could register to vote at any South African Embassy, High Commission or Consulate-General from 9 January 2014 to 7 February 2014. South Africans living abroad who wished to vote had to notify the IEC of their intention to vote by 12 March 2014. The weekends of 18–19 January and 25–26 January were made registration weekends to accommodate voters who were unable to register during business hours. Over 26,000 voters were registered to vote abroad by the time of the election.


2014 South African general election, Voter registration, International voters
A total of 26,701 voters were registered to vote abroad, with the highest numbers of voters being registered to vote in London (9,863), Dubai (1,539) and Canberra (1,243) with other stations totalling 14,056 registered voters.


2014 South African general election, Opinion polling, National ballot
According to an internal poll conducted by the DA with American pollster Stan Greenberg in March–April 2014, the ANC would get 59% of the vote, the DA 26% and the EFF 8%.


2014 South African general election, Opinion polling, National ballot
In an Ipsos survey of 1,000 registered ANC members conducted for the Sunday Times in December 2013, 55% of respondents said they will vote for the ANC again, 5% said they will vote for the DA, 6% said they will vote for other parties, and the remaining 34% said they did not know or preferred not to answer.


2014 South African general election, Opinion polling, National ballot
According to the results of an Ipsos Pulse of the People survey published in February 2014, the DA is the most multi-racial party while the ANC has 96% black supporters and the EFF has 99% black supporters, relative to 76% black survey respondents. The age profile of ANC supporters closely resembles the age profile of voters, while DA supporters are slightly older overall and EFF supporters are significantly younger overall.


2014 South African general election, Opinion polling, National ballot
Africa Check, a non-profit organisation that checks facts in claims made about Africa, and the Centre for the Study of Democracy have criticised polls by market research companies as unscientific. Africa Check warned that some polls are intentionally misleading and some are essentially conjecture.


2014 South African general election, Opinion polling, Provincial ballot
The Ipsos Pulse of the People survey undertaken in October and November 2013 showed that a number of provinces would be closely contested. The ANC will continue to dominate in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State. The DA will keep the Western Cape while control of the Northern Cape and Gauteng will be contested between the ANC and DA, with other parties holding the balance of power, so coalitions may be decisive. In Limpopo and North West the EFF could become the official opposition.


2014 South African general election, Opinion polling, Provincial ballot
The Ipsos/Sunday Times survey undertaken in February and March 2014 showed that the ANC enjoyed majority support in all provinces except the Western Cape, where the DA retains majority support. DA support followed that of the ANC in all other provinces except for the North West, where the EFF came in second place.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Debates
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) broadcast weekly election debates from February to May 2014. They were broadcast between 6pm and 7pm on SABC 1 and streamed live on the SABC's YouTube channel.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
In January 2014, Helen Zille announced that the DA would be marching to Luthuli House, the ANC's headquarters, saying, "We are taking the fight to Luthuli House to highlight the failure of (President) Jacob Zuma's ANC to cut corruption and create jobs". Zille said that 6000 people would be marching, each one representing 1000 South Africans who would benefit from the 6 million jobs that the DA promised to create if it came to power. The planned date of the march was 4 February 2014, but this was later changed to the 12th due to logistical problems.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) initially denied the DA's application to march but the decision was overturned on 3 February 2014 when the DA took the matter to the Johannesburg High Court. On the 11th, it was reported that the JMPD had set the march perimeters to prevent the DA from marching to Luthuli House. JMPD spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said, "The protest march by the DA... has been prohibited on the grounds that there would be a security risk to protesters." The DA announced that the march would now end at Beyers Naude Square. On the day of the march, an application to stop the DA march filed by the ANC to the South Gauteng High Court was dismissed.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
The march ended early after the DA was confronted by ANC supporters 40 minutes into the march. Stones and petrol bombs were thrown by ANC supporters at police trying to calm the situation.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On 13 March, violence erupted in the Bekkersdal township in Gauteng, the scene of violent service delivery protests in 2013. Residents staged a protest over a planned ANC campaign in the area, barricading the streets with rocks and burning tyres and pelting ANC officials and police vehicles with stones. Police responded to the volatile situation by firing rubber bullets at residents.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
Shortly after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's final report on security upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's private residence at Nkandla was published on 19 March, the DA sent a bulk text message to Gauteng voters which reads: "The Nkandla report shows how Zuma stole your money to build his R246m home. Vote DA on 7 May to beat corruption. Together for change." The ANC submitted an urgent application to the South Gauteng High Court to stop distribution of the text message on the grounds that it violated the Electoral Act.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On 4 April, the court ruled that the wording of the message was fair comment and dismissed the ANC's application with costs. The ANC was granted leave to appeal the decision. On 6 May, the Electoral Court ruled that the DA must retract the text message, finding that it wrongly targeted Zuma personally instead of the systematic failures highlighted in Madonsela's report. The court case was ultimately won by the DA when the Constitutional Court set aside the Electoral Court ruling on 19 January 2015.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On 5 April, a marquee, a stage, a sound system and chairs set up for an EFF rally in Thokoza were petrol bombed in the early hours of the morning. EFF spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Mdlozi said that the EFF suspected ANC members were responsible for the sabotage. ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu denied the allegations, saying "We don't do such things."


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
The following day, the DA accused the ANC of abusing state resources after the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) was seen giving out blankets and toiletries at an ANC rally in Parys. ANC spokesperson Khusela Sangoni-Khawe denied the accusation, saying that the ANC did not know SASSA would be at the rally.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
Four days later, the DA submitted a complaint to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) about censorship by the public broadcaster after the SABC informed the DA it would not continue broadcasting a DA television advert titled "ANC Ayisafani", meaning "the ANC's not the same", and five DA radio adverts aired on 8 and 9 April 2014. According to the DA's Mmusi Maimane, who appears in the television advert, the SABC banned all DA adverts from 11 public radio stations as well as the television advert.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
ICASA announced that it would hold public hearings on the matter on Thursday the 17th, 6 days after the DA lodged their complaint. Following the DA's announcement that it would submit an urgent application to the South Gauteng High Court requesting a ruling on the adverts before the long Easter weekend commencing Good Friday, the day after ICASA's proposed public hearing date, the ICASA hearings commenced 2 days earlier than originally scheduled.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On the day after the hearing, the ban was lifted temporarily as the SABC had failed to provide reasons for the ban during the ICASA hearings and requested more time to prepare a response. The DA also objected to the SABC not allowing the national official opposition party to participate in a televised election debate on land reform on SABCin the first 2 weeks of April. On 25 April, ICASA upheld the SABC's ban on the television advert finding that it contravened ICASA's regulations on party election broadcasts.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
ICASA ordered that a photograph taken by The Citizen photographer Alaister Russell of a police officer firing rubber bullets at unarmed residents during the March 2014 Bekkersdal protest be removed from the advert as "the police should not be seen as a threat to the community". In the advert, Maimane says "We've seen a police force killing our own people" while the photograph is shown on the screen. The South African Police Service had earlier submitted a complaint to ICASA that this footage would incite violence against police officers.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On 15 April 2014, a protest campaign against corruption with the slogan "Vukani! Sidikwe! (Wake up! We are Fed up!) Vote No", supported by over 100 ANC veterans, was launched by former government ministers Ronnie Kasrils and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge. The IEC has requested a legal opinion on whether the campaign contravenes the Electoral Act. The campaign urges ANC supporters to either spoil their votes or vote for a smaller party. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu welcomed the campaign, and human rights activist and cleric Barney Pityana describes it as "a campaign to bring rationality, order, morality and decency back into our electoral system" in a Mail & Guardian opinion piece.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On the same day, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa announced that lawyers acting on behalf of several opposition parties concerned about the credibility of the general election would approach the Electoral Court following the IEC chairperson Pansy Tlakula's refusal to agree to their call for her resignation. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found Tlakula had been involved in building procurement irregularities in a report published in August 2013, and a subsequent National Treasury review published in March 2014 supported her findings.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
Five days before the election, the Electoral Court postponed the inquiry into her conduct until 2 June 2014, as it would not be able to rule on the matter before the 7 May election date. On 18 June, the Electoral Court recommended Tlakula's removal from office due to financial misconduct. Tlakula resigned as IEC chairperson on 1 September after an unsuccessful application to the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal the Electoral Court ruling.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On 22 April, the EFF also lodged a complaint with ICASA after the SABC banned an EFF election campaign television advert titled "Now is the time for economic freedom" that was due to be aired on 2 occasions, 2 days before the complaint was lodged and on the day the complaint was lodged. Four days after the complaint was lodged, ICASA upheld the SABC's ban on the advert. ICASA found that wording in the advert about physically destroying contentious e-tolls in Gauteng could incite violence and therefore contravened ICASA's regulations on party election broadcasts. The EFF advert had also highlighted police brutality, using interviews and photographs related to the Marikana massacre and the same photograph of the March 2014 Bekkersdal protest that ICASA ordered removed from the DA advert.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
Nine days before the election, a Parliamentary committee set up to consider Zuma's response to Madonsela's final Nkandla report was referred to the next Parliament to be formed after the election, citing insufficient time available before the 7 May election date.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
Two days before the election, Zuma spoke about the Nkandla scandal at a media briefing, saying it was only an issue with the media and the opposition, "the bright people ... very clever people", and not an issue with ANC voters.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Controversies
On the day before the election, it was reported that the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) had ambushed election campaign posters by attaching matching NSPCA posters to the bottom of them. NSPCA spokesperson, Christine Kuch said that the NSPCA campaign hoped to get more political parties to include animal rights in their manifestos.


2014 South African general election, Campaign, Cost
Due to the secretive nature of political funding in South Africa generally little public information exists on both sources of political funding of South African political parties and the nature of their expenses however the ruling ANC did declare the 2014 elections to be the "most expensive election" it had ever fought to date. According to leaked sources within the ANC the 2014 elections cost the ANC over R429-million. Some of the ANC's expenses include R118 million on campaign T-shirts, R17-million for the manifesto launch in Mbombela, R83.7-million in advertising (including R27-million for posters and billboards), R21 million for the victory rally, and R67-million on volunteers.


2014 South African general election, Voting, International special votes
Over 26,000 South Africans registered to participate in the national election in the international voting phase, which took place at 116 international voting stations on 30 April 2014. The last international voting station in Los Angeles closed at 6 am SAST on 1 May 2014. All international votes were couriered to South Africa, combined into a single voting district and counted on 7 May 2014.


2014 South African general election, Voting, International special votes
The IEC had budgeted R2 million to cover the cost of couriering the ballot papers from overseas.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Local special votes
The local special vote phase of the election took place on 5–6 May 2014, accommodating who are physically infirm, disabled or pregnant or were unable to vote at their voting station on the polling day. Former President Thabo Mbeki cast a special vote as he was attending a World Economic Forum meeting in Nigeria on polling day.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day
Voting took place relatively smoothly at 22,264 voting stations in South Africa. It was reported that 2,449, or 11%, of the voting stations opened later than the scheduled opening time of 7 am. All voting stations were operational by 11 am. Voting stations closed and counting began at 9 pm.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day
A newly designed braille template was used for the first time in a National election, allowing blind voters to vote independently for the first time. In previous elections, blind voters had to communicate their choice of party to a voting official, who then filled in a ballot sheet on their behalf.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day, Incidents
On voting day 97 people were arrested for election-related offences, primarily voter intimidation. A number of voters ignored the new legislation prohibiting photographs of marked ballot papers, including local celebrity DJ Sbu and footballer Andile Jali.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day, Incidents
The chair of the Independent Electoral Commission, Pansy Tlakula, made it plain that electioneering was forbidden on the day of the election itself. ' No political events can take place on voting day,’ she told reporters. ' Campaigning finished at midnight last night.' In the townships surrounding Cape Town it was evident that this ruling was extensively and openly flouted. As the day drew to a close, cavalcades of cars, with loudspeakers blaring out party songs and supporters waving flags from the windows, could be seen touring up and down the streets.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day, Incidents
Outside polling stations crowds, some more than a hundred strong, dressed in party colours and waving ANC flags, could be seen dancing less than a metre from the long lines of men and women waiting patiently to cast their votes. When this was drawn to the attention of the police and the representatives of the Electoral Commission at the stations they either shrugged their shoulders or said they did not have the resources to deal with these violations of the regulations.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day, Incidents
A voting station in Alexandra, Gauteng was temporarily closed after an argument broke out between ANC and EFF members when the EFF accused the ANC of vote-rigging. The voting station was opened later that afternoon.


2014 South African general election, Voting, Voting day, Incidents
An ANC supporter was fatally shot in KwaZulu-Natal by an IFP supporter near a voting station. Dumisani Nxumalo, a 28-year-old from KwaDukuza was charged with the murder. The Durban Regional Court saw his bail application on 26 June 2014 where it was alleged that the shooting took place while IFP supporters were walking past an ANC tent. The case was set to continue in July.


2014 South African general election, Results
The Electoral Commission decided to exclude the votes from one voting station in Tickeyline, near Tzaneen in Limpopo, because staff at the voting station were attacked at the close of voting and the security of the ballot could not be assured. The final results were announced on 10 May.


2014 South African general election, Results, Parliament, National Council of Provinces
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) consists of 90 members, ten nominated by each provincial legislature, in proportion to the party membership of the provincial legislature. Each provincial delegation consists of six permanent delegates, who are nominated for a term that lasts until a new provincial legislature is elected, and four special delegates. One of the special delegates is the province's Premier, or another member of the provincial legislature designated by the Premier, while the other three special delegates are designated ad hoc by the provincial legislature.


2014 South African general election, Results, Provincial legislatures
In the provincial results of the election, the ANC won a majority in all the provincial legislatures except for the Western Cape, in which it came second to the DA. The DA came second in all other provinces except for Limpopo and the North West, in which it came third after the EFF.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Domestic, Political
African National Congress supporters gathered in Johannesburg to celebrate the party's results. Jacob Zuma dedicated the ANC's victory to Nelson Mandela. The ANC requested an in-depth analysis of election results from its provincial election team in Gauteng. ANC spokesperson Nkenke Kekana said the ANC was concerned about its drop in support in the 2014 elections. Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, published a press release thanking every South African who voted for the DA.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Domestic, Political
She said that voters had responded positively to the DA's campaign, saying, "We can look back proudly on what was undoubtedly the biggest and best campaign the DA has ever run." Economic Freedom Fighters commander-in-chief Julius Malema dedicated the EFF's result to the girls kidnapped in the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping, saying, "It looks impossible, but we have proved what looks impossible is possible." EFF supporters gathered at Innes Free Park in Sandton to celebrate the results.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Domestic, Political
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in a statement that despite low estimations in the Ipsos polls, the IFP managed to retain its fourth-place position in the elections. Buthelezi thanked all South Africans who voted for the IFP and stated that he was proud to serve South Africa. Agang SA: Mamphela Ramphele congratulate all parties and candidates who contested the election. She expressed disappointment at Agang SA's poor performance, but stated that she was proud that her party achieved parliamentary representation despite it only being formed several months prior to the election. African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart expressed disappointment that the ACDP did not grow its share of the vote, but was grateful that they were able to retain their support compared to other parties in the election.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos congratulated President Jacob Zuma and said that the election results reaffirmed the wish of South Africans to maintain the status quo. President of Botswana, Ian Khama said "We extend our congratulations to President Jacob Zuma and his party the ANC for their re-election." Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated President Zuma and the ANC on their "resounding victory", describing it as a well-deserved tribute to Nelson Mandela.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
President of Seychelles, James Michel congratulated Jacob Zuma on his re-election, saying, "It is a mark of confidence, in the leadership that you have provided the people of South Africa and the undeniable strong determination and conviction in making South Africa a beacon of hope and success in Africa and in the world." He also stated he was proud of the partnership between their two countries and he hoped that they would continue to improve.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
Swaziland's ambassador to South Africa Senzangakhona Dlamini told President Zuma "Swaziland agrees that South Africa has a good story to tell as you celebrate 20 years of democracy". Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe congratulated President Jacob Zuma on the ANC's "resounding victory" and commended South Africans for their "peaceful and exemplary conduct" during the election.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, congratulated South Africa on the elections in a press release when the voting had concluded. Once the results had been released, President Barack Obama congratulated Jacob Zuma in a telephone conversation.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko sent a congratulatory message to Zuma congratulating him on his re-election. It read, "I hope that joint efforts will help us enhance bilateral cooperation for the benefit of the two countries." United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague congratulated South Africa for successful elections and stated that the UK would continue to have good relations with South Africa.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa congratulated Zuma on his re-election for a second term of governance. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, congratulated South Africa on the elections at a press briefing. She said that China had paid great attention to these elections and that "China will continue to view relations with South Africa as a priority in its foreign policy." Indian president, Pranab Mukherjee congratulated Jacob Zuma on his re-election and said that he hoped bilateral relations between India and South Africa would grow from "strength to strength."


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, Recognised states
King Abdullah of Jordan congratulated Zuma and expressed his commitment to improve relations between Jordan and South Africa. Kazakhstan ambassador to South Africa Talgat Kaliyev congratulated President Zuma on "the successful elections". President of Nepal, Ram Baran Yadav congratulated Zuma on his re-elections and wished peace and prosperity for South Africans under Zuma's leadership. Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa congratulated the ANC on their victory, saying this showed the popularity of "the party of Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and others."


2014 South African general election, Reactions, International, States with limited recognition
Barotseland Administrator General, Afumba Mombotwa congratulated Zuma for his victory, saying the result of the election showed that South African citizens had "spoken their minds." President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz conveyed his best wishes to Zuma and the ANC on behalf of his people and government.


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Supranational organisations
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon applauded the high voter turnout at the elections and South African citizens' willingness to participate in the democratic system their country fought for. African Union observer mission Deputy Head Ibrahim Fall reported that the elections were fair and all parties obeyed electoral rules. He said, "The general political and electoral environment was generally peaceful across the country, with voters being able to exercise their right to vote."


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Supranational organisations
Southern African Development Community Electoral Observation Mission said in a statement "Guided by the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, SEOM concludes that the 2014 National and Provincial Elections were peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the people of South Africa."


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Supranational organisations
Commonwealth of Nations Election Observer Mission chairperson, Nana Akufo-Addo said that the South African elections should be an example for the continent of Africa, saying, "So when we see a process like this which seems to have been a commendable process taking place in South Africa, we see there is a tremendous boost to the spread of democracy in the rest of the continent."


2014 South African general election, Reactions, Media
BBC's Andrew Harding said that there was no massive change in the elections compared to previous years and Voice of America said that the increase in representation for opposition parties will provide "great political entertainment".


2014 South African general election, Aftermath, Economic
On 8 May 2014, the South African Rand grew 1.2% against the US dollar, reaching its highest level in four months. The following day, the Rand was still trading strongly as preliminary results showed that the ANC would defeat the EFF, whose left-wing policies worried investors.


2014 South African general election, Aftermath, Political
On 7 June 2014, the Presidency issued a statement saying that Jacob Zuma had been admitted to hospital for tests following "a demanding election and transition programme," and that doctors were satisfied with his condition. Zuma was advised to rest for the next few days. Following internal conflict within Agang SA, party leader Mamphela Ramphele announced her withdrawal from politics on the next day.


2014 South African general election, Aftermath, Controversies, Dumped votes
On 8 May, it was reported that dumped ballots from the Lynnwood voting district in Pretoria had been found. According to reports, a majority of the dumped votes were for the Democratic Alliance. Helen Zille expressed her concerns over the incident to reporters at the IEC national operations centre, saying, "This is certainly not conducive to public confidence in a free and fair election." However, DA party agents from the voting station confirmed that the votes had already been counted. Party agent for the DA, Jordan Griffith tweeted, "I was the party agent there, those votes were counted and recorded. .signed off. The IEC in their laziness dumped them" The IEC stated that it was looking into the incident.