The African National Congress (ANC) party is likely to lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election, that held in 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.
As per sources, the ANC had got just over 40.21% votes in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) that conducted the elections.
Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance (DA) party got about 21.77% of the votes. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC was the third with 14.59% of the votes in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party was in fourth with 9.51 % of the vote share.
About 58.47 % of registered voters cast their vote in South Africa’s national election. Total registered population to Votes in South Africa was 2,77,82,081 of which 1,62,45,905 voters cast their votes.
More than 50 parties contested the election, many of them with tiny shares of the vote, but the DA and MK appear to be the most obvious for the ANC to approach, given how far it is from a majority. Which coalition the ANC pursues is the urgent focus now, given Parliament needs to sit and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. In South Africa, parliament elects the South African President after national elections. There was no coalition in South Africa till now.
While opposition parties have hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty, unemployment and inequality, the ANC remained the biggest party by some way.
“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen.
The way forward promises to be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and Steenhuisen has said his party is open for discussions. The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement is that Ramaphosa to be removed as ANC leader and President.
Despite the uncertainty, South African opposition parties are thinking of new political picture as a much-needed change for the country of 62 million.
South Africa has widespread poverty and extremely high levels of unemployment and the ANC has struggled to raise the standard of living for millions. The official unemployment rate is 32%, one of the highest in the world, and the 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 now punished by voters — for a failure in basic government services that impacts millions and leaves many without water, electricity or proper housing.
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