
Partial results from South Africa’s general election indicated that the African general Congress seemed set to lose the legislative majority it has had for thirty years, marking the most significant political change since the end of apartheid.
According to data from the electoral commission, the ANC had 42.3% of the vote after results from 10% of polling places were in. The pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) came in second with 26.3% and the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 8.1%.
The African National Congress (ANC) would have to strike a coalition with one or more other parties in order to form government if the final results were to reflect the initial picture. This might result in weeks or months of unparalleled political unrest.
As per the country’s constitution, the future president will be chosen by the recently elected National Assembly.
Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of the ANC, is expected to continue serving as the nation’s president as long as the party is on path to become the largest, but a dismal result might leave him open to a challenge from within the party.
Since the historic 1994 election, which signaled the end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s elevation to the presidency, the ANC has prevailed in national elections, which are held every five years.
However, since those exuberant times, the ANC’s popularity has waned as a result of frustration with problems including high rates of crime and unemployment, frequent outages of electricity, and corruption.
According to preliminary results, the ANC and the DA were tied at roughly 34% of the vote in the crucial province of Gauteng, which encompasses the vast townships of Soweto and Alexandra as well as Johannesburg, the commercial hub of the nation.
A new party formed by former president Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), was doing well in KwaZulu-Natal, a populous eastern province that is home to the important metropolis of Durban. The MK received 41.7% of the vote, compared to 20.1% for the ANC.
After a series of scandals forced Zuma to resign as president in 2018, he fell out with the ANC leadership and decided to support MK. The party, which took its name from the apartheid-era military wing of the ANC, seemed to be costing the ANC and EFF votes, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal.
Although the electoral commission has seven days by law to announce the complete results, in reality, they typically do so far sooner. Voting took conducted on a Wednesday, just like it is this year, and the results were announced on a Saturday in the previous election in 2019.
Following the announcement of the final results, the new parliament must meet within 14 days and elect the country’s president as its first act.
This implies that two weeks of rigorous and intricate negotiations may be necessary to decide how to form a new government if it is proven that the ANC has lost its majority. (Reuters)
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