After the parliamentary elections, there will probably be a coalition government in South Africa for the first time in the country’s history.
After 80% of votes were counted, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party had 41.37% of the total votes on Friday evening, according to the National Electoral Commission (IEC).
The preliminary results indicate huge losses for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling party, which won 57.5% of the vote in the last parliamentary election of 2019.
If the former party of anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela remains below the 50% threshold, as is now thought likely, it will have to form a coalition.
Over the past thirty years, since democracy began in 1994, the ANC has always won an absolute majority and governed alone the continent’s strongest economy.
The economically liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) – led by John Steenhuisen – has so far reached 22.16%, while the party founded just six months ago by former president Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), is on 13.06% stands. The Marxist-influenced party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) follows with 9.41%.
According to preliminary results, the ANC will also lose its absolute majority in the country’s economically strongest province, Gauteng, which also includes the capital Pretoria and economic center Johannesburg.
The ANC is also expected to fall below 50% in KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma’s home province.
The country’s second strongest province, the Western Cape where Cape Town is located, has been governed by the DA for years. The partial results suggest that the country will retain its absolute majority there.
Members of 52 parties competed for the 400 seats in the National Assembly on May 29. The newly elected parliament must form a government and elect a president within fourteen days of the announcement of the final results.
The ANC’s historic election losses can be attributed to the government’s weak record. The country of 61 million inhabitants is facing an ailing economy and mass unemployment, while state-owned companies are struggling.
There are regular power outages and there is a lot of crime and corruption.
