JOHANNESBURG (AP) – The The National African Congress The party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result on Saturday that sets South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the white minority apartheid system 30 years ago.
With nearly 99% of the votes counted, the Formerly dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority he had held since the famous 1994 all-race vote that ended apartheid and brought him to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results have yet to be officially declared by the independent electoral commission which organized the elections.
While opposition parties hailed it as a major breakthrough for a country grappling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained in some ways the largest party, but it will now have to seek one or more coalition partners to remain in government and re-elect President Cyril Ramaphosa. for a second and final term. Parliament elects the South African president after national elections.
The result ended the ANC’s three-decade domination of South Africa’s young democracy, but the path ahead looks complicated for Africa’s most advanced economyand there is no coalition on the table yet.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, received around 21% of the vote. New MK Party of former president Jacob Zuma, who turned against the ANC he once led, came third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election he contested.
Which parties could the ANC approach co-governing is now an urgent priority, given that Parliament must sit and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. Many negotiations are ahead and they promise to be complicated.
The MK party said one of its conditions for any deal was that Ramaphosa be removed as leader and president of the ANC.
“We are ready to negotiate with the ANC, but not with Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC,” MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.
More than 50 evenings contested the national elections, but given the majority’s distance from the ANC, it is likely he will have to go to one of the three main opposition parties.
MK and the far left Economic freedom fighters called for the nationalization of parts of the economy. The centrist Democratic Alliance is considered a business-friendly party and analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcome by foreign investors.
Despite the uncertainty, South African opposition parties welcomed the new political situation as an essential change for this country of 62 million inhabitants, which is the most developed in Africa but also one of the most unequal in the world.
South Africa experiences widespread poverty and extremely high levels of unemployment and the ANC fought to raise the living standards of millions of people. The official unemployment rate is 32%, one of the highest in the world, and poverty disproportionately affects black people, who make up 80% of the population and have been at the heart of the ANC’s support for years.
The ANC has also been blamed – and apparently punished by voters – for a failure in basic government services. which impacts millions and leaves many people without water, electricity or adequate housing.
“We have been saying for 30 years that the way to save South Africa is to break the majority of the ANC and we have done that,” Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said.
Nearly 28 million South Africans have registered to vote and turnout is expected to be around 60%, according to figures from the Independent Electoral Commission which organizes the elections.
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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.
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