The African National Congress’s vote share drops to 40 percent, forcing it to look for coalition partners to form a government.
The African National Congress (ANC) party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that sets South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.
With more than 99 percent of votes counted on Saturday, the once-dominant ANC polled almost 40 percent in Wednesday’s elections, far short of the majority it has held since the famous 1994 all-race vote that ended apartheid. and brought him to power. under Nelson Mandela.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.63 percent and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, managed to get 14.71 percent – taking away votes from the ANC.
Opposition parties hailed the result as an important step forward for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, but the ANC remained, in some ways, the largest party.
“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC majority and we have achieved that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen.
The final results have not yet been formally declared by the independent Electoral Commission that conducted the elections, but the ANC cannot get past 50 percent.
Reporting from the Results Operations Center in Midrand, South Africa, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said the ANC will try to find a way to form a new government.
“This [ANC] You have to find a partner to be able to govern. Otherwise, it could attempt to form a minority government, which could make it very difficult to pass any form of legislation or advance ANC policy,” he said.
Gwede Mantashe, president of the ANC and current minister of mines and energy, told journalists in comments broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC): “We can talk to everyone”, dodging a question about who the party is was discussing a possible coalition. deal with.
Political parties’ vote share determines their seats in the country’s National Assembly, which elects the country’s president.
President Cyril Ramaphosa can, in theory, still keep his job, as the former liberation movement was on track to get about twice as many votes as the next party. But he will be weakened and could face calls for his resignation from both opposition parties and critics of the deeply divided ANC.
On Friday, however, a senior ANC official backed him to remain as party leader, and analysts say he has no obvious successor.
A deal to keep the ANC in the presidency could involve support from the opposition in exchange for cabinet positions or greater control of parliament, perhaps even the speaker.
The electoral commission has scheduled an announcement of the final results for Sunday.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
