South African legislators will cast secret ballots in an upcoming no-confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma, raising the chances that the vote could remove him from office.
"Considerations of transparency and openness" are not always possible "where there are instances of intimidation", Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete said on the eve of Tuesday's vote.
"No member can suffer any harm, hardship or punitive action" if they vote "according to their conscience", she said at a press conference on Monday.
Zuma has already survived seven no-confidence votes since he became president in 2009, but they were held on open ballots.
Nine of out a total 13 parties had now requested a secret ballot, which will allow members of Zuma's deeply divided African National Congress to vote against him without fear of reprisals.
For parliament to oust Zuma, at least 50 of the ANC's 249 legislators would have to vote against him, in addition to all the opposition MPs in the 400-seat assembly.
The president and his cabinet would then have to resign, following which parliament would elect a new president from among its members, or early elections would be held.
Such an outcome is regarded as unlikely. But even if a few ANC members dare to break the party discipline and vote against Zuma, that would weaken the president politically and reduce his chances of serving until the end of his second term in 2019, analysts say.
The no-confidence vote was proposed by the main opposition Democratic Alliance in April after Zuma fired respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan, prompting two ratings agencies to downgrade South Africa's credit rating to junk.
The downgrades followed a string of corruption scandals. Zuma is also under fire over his handling of the economy.
