South Africa elections: Early results suggest the country is on the cusp of the biggest political change since apartheid

Johannesburg, South Africa
CNN
—

Early election results in South Africa suggest that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time in 30 years.

With results of 22% from polling stations as of 4 p.m. local time, support for the ANC stood at 43.5%.

The official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), received 24.7% of the vote, while the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – a splinter party of the ANC – obtained 8.9%, according to data from the country’s electoral commission.

Respected research group CSIR modeled the ANC winning less than 45% of the national poll as of mid-morning on Thursday.

Independent Electoral Commission officials stressed that the official count could take several days and that the counting of some larger electoral districts could take longer.

In previous elections, results from rural areas – where the ANC has significant strongholds – came later, boosting the party’s results.

Once all votes are counted, if the ANC remains below 50%, it will be forced to enter into a coalition with one or more parties. Depending on how much his support declines, he may have to strike a deal with one of the larger opposition parties, such as the DA or EFF, to stay in power.

Another ANC splinter party, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, appears to be on track for success in KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern coastal province where Durban is located. At 10 a.m. local time, it received 42.3% of the votes against 20.1% for the ANC.

Zuma – a fierce critic of current ANC leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – was forced to resign as leader in 2018 and served a brief stint in prison in 2021 for contempt of court. The 82-year-old was barred from running in parliamentary elections last week after the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that five years must have passed since his sentence was served. His face, however, remained on the ballot.

The South African Electoral Commission has seven days to announce the final results, in accordance with the law. However, they are usually announced earlier than that. This year, the commission has set Sunday June 2 as the day of the final results.

If the ANC loses its majority, it will have 14 days after the final results are announced to form a new government before a new parliament must convene to elect the nation’s president.