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Article snippet: JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s ruling party moved slowly on Sunday to elect a leader to replace the scandal-plagued President Jacob Zuma, as disputes over delegates’ credentials delayed the vote. Officials with the party, the African National Congress, said a new leader would emerge on Monday morning at the earliest. On Sunday, officials also said that 400 delegates had been disqualified, leaving nearly 4,800 to decide who would succeed Mr. Zuma. Delegates from across the country have gathered at a national conference in Johannesburg to elect the next party leader. Given the A.N.C.’s dominance in Parliament, the winner is almost certain to become South Africa’s next president. In the weeks leading up to the conference, several provincial branches became embroiled in legal battles over who would cast votes there. Then, as the five-day conference began on Saturday, disputes over credentials flared up. The party’s deputy general secretary, Jessie Duarte, said officials had taken care to go through the process properly to avoid possible legal challenges. “This is to ensure credibility of the process,” Ms. Duarte said at a news conference. The two front-runners — Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Mr. Zuma’s ex-wife — have been locked in a tight race, each representing starkly different visions for the party that has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. Mr. Ramaphosa, 65, the country’s deputy president, is popular among business groups and... Link to the full article to read more