South Africa’s ANC ruling party that freed country from apartheid loses its 30-year majority

The African National Congress 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 apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.

With almost 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC polled just over 40% in Wednesday’s elections, far short of the majority it has held since the famous 1994 all-race vote that ended apartheid and led to to power. under Nelson Mandela. The final results have not yet been formally declared by the independent electoral commission that conducted the elections.

Although opposition parties hailed it as an important step forward for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained by some measures the largest party, but will now have to look for a coalition partner or 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 dominance over South Africa’s young democracy, but the path forward promises to be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy and there is still no coalition on the table.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, got around 21%. Former President Jacob Zuma’s new MK Party, which turned against the ANC it once led, came in third place with just over 14% of the vote in the first elections it contested.

Which parties the ANC can draw on to co-govern is the urgent focus now, given that Parliament needs to meet and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. A flurry of negotiations was expected to take place and they are likely to be complicated.

The MK Party said one of the conditions for any deal was that Ramaphosa be removed as leader and president of the ANC.

“We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not with Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC,” said MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela.

More than 50 parties contested the national elections, but given how far the ANC appears to be from the majority, it is likely to have to approach one of the three main opposition parties.

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for the nationalization of parts of the economy. The centrist Democratic Alliance is seen as a business-friendly party and analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be better received by foreign investors.

Despite the uncertainty, South African opposition parties hailed the new political framework as a much-needed change for the country of 62 million people, which is the most developed in Africa but also one of the most unequal in the world.

South Africa has widespread poverty and extremely high levels of unemployment and the ANC has struggled to raise the standard of living for 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 the core 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 that affects millions of people and leaves many without water, electricity or adequate housing.

“We have said for the last 30 years that the way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC majority and we have done that,” said Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen.

Almost 28 million South Africans were registered to vote and participation is expected to be around 60%, according to data from the independent electoral commission that runs the elections.