JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa will hold general elections on May 7 in a democratic milestone marking 20 years since the end of white minority rule, the president said Friday, even as police struggled to contain violent protests by poor residents who say the government has reneged on pledges to improve living standards.

The election will be the first since the Dec. 5 death of Nelson Mandela, a unifying figure whose election as South Africa’s first black president in 1994 lifted the hopes of many South Africans whose basic rights were denied during apartheid. The ruling African National Congress, the liberation movement-turned-political party that Mandela led, is favored to win the elections, but its popularity has slipped amid high unemployment, corruption scandals and inadequate government services and infrastructure.