JOHANNESBURG — South Africa announced the final results of its elections on Sunday, confirming that no party won a majority, and that unprecedented coalition talks were beginning to find a way forward for Africa’s most advanced economy. President Cyril Ramaphosa immediately called in a speech for the parties to overcome their differences and find “common ground” to form the first national coalition government in the country’s young democracy.
Ramaphosa’s African National Congress party had already lost its 30-year majority after more than 99% of the votes were counted on Saturday and showed it could not get above 50%. The ANC received around 40% of the vote in last week’s election in the final count, the largest proportion.
Without a majority, he will need to agree a coalition with another party or parties for the first time to co-govern and re-elect Ramaphosa for a second term. South Africa’s national elections decide how many seats each party gets in Parliament, and lawmakers later elect the president.
“Our people have spoken,” Ramaphosa said. “Whether we like it or not, they have spoken. “We have heard the voices of our people and we must respect their choices and their wishes.”
“The people of South Africa expect their leaders to work together to meet their needs. “This is the time for all of us to put South Africa first.”
The ANC was Nelson Mandela’s party and liberated South Africa from the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. It had governed with a comfortable majority ever since. This election saw an unprecedented drop in support, and voters were seen as abandoning the party due to its inability to resolve widespread poverty and extremely high unemployment levelsas well as problems with the delivery of basic government services to many people in a nation of 62 million people.
The ANC had said earlier Sunday that it was starting negotiations with all major parties.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the party was open to all negotiations, including with the main opposition Democratic Alliancewhich has led the chorus of criticism of the ANC for years but is considered by many analysts to be the most stable coalition option for South Africa.
The DA won the second highest number of votes with around 21% and the two parties would have a majority together and could govern. DA leader John Steenhuisen said his party was also starting talks with the parties.
There is some time pressure for coalition talks to progress and for uncertainty to be minimised, given that South Africa’s new Parliament must meet for the first time and elect a president within 14 days of the election results being declared. elections.
Ramaphosa is seeking a second and final term and Mbalula said his position as ANC leader was not in doubt despite the election result. Mbalula said the ANC would not consider the demands of the Former President Jacob Zuma’s MK Party for Ramaphosa to resign as a condition for talks.
“No political party will dictate terms to us, the ANC. They won’t… They come to us with that demand, forget it,” Mbalula said.
However, he said the ANC would not be arrogant. “The elections have humiliated us, they have brought us to where we are,” he said.
South Africa is a leading voice for its continent and The developing world on the global stage. and is due to assume the presidency of the Group of 20 rich and developing countries later this year. It is the only African nation in that group.
“Everyone is looking to see if South Africa can weather the storm and come out on the other side,” political analyst Oscar van Heerden said on news network eNCA.
Among many coalition options, the ANC could also join forces with MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, although they have been presented as partners who would worry investors. Both have pledged to nationalize parts of South Africa’s economy, including its gold and platinum mines, which are among the world’s largest producers.
The DA has long said it will not work with the EFF and MK, calling them an “apocalyptic coalition” for South Africa. Steenhuisen repeated that stance Sunday in a speech on national television, but said his party was starting talks with others and would approach them “with a cool head and an open mind.”
Political analyst van Heerden said an ANC-DA coalition would “possibly give stability”, but there were some within the ANC who would oppose it. Other smaller parties could step in to water it down and make it more acceptable to the ANC, some commentators said.
“The DA has approached the ANC as an enemy for many, many years,” van Heerden said. “The next few days are going to be a very difficult period. People will have to be mature behind closed doors.”
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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.
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