South Africa hurtles towards coalition Government for the first time in 30 years after Mandela’s ANC which freed the country from apartheid suffers HUGE election blow

The African National Congress party lost its majority on Saturday in a historic election result South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of the white minority government thirty years ago.

With more than 99% of the vote counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections, well short of the majority it had won since the 1994 all-race vote that ended to apartheid and brought it to power. Nelson Mandela.

The final results must still be formally announced on Sunday by the Independent Electoral Commission, but the ANC cannot reach 50% and an era of coalition government – also a first for South Africa – is looming.

The ANC will now likely 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 must convene within fourteen days of the election results being announced to elect the South African president.

The ANC remains the largest party despite the damage done by an upstart rival led by former president Jacob Zuma, and is therefore expected to retain the presidency.

President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during the final meeting of the African National Congress before the South African national elections at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa

Former President and now leader of the MK Party, Jacob Zuma, arrives at the Results Operation Center (ROC) in Midrand, Johannesburg

The empty stand of the African National Congress at the National Results Operation Center of the Electoral Commission of South Africa

But as the second largest political force with 21.8% of the vote, the Democratic Alliance is one of three parties with the power to help it form a new majority and potentially shape the nation’s future.

“The way to save South Africa is to break the ANC majority and we have done that,” said John Steenhuisen, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party.

Julius Malema, the leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party, said the ANC’s “right to be the only dominant party” was over.

The path forward could be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and no coalition is yet on the table. The three main opposition parties and many more smaller parties were in the mix when negotiations began.

“We can talk to anyone,” ANC president Gwede Mantashe said on national broadcaster SABC.

Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance received about 21% of the votes. Former President Jacob Zuma’s new MK party, which has turned against the ANC he once led, came third with just over 14% of the vote in the first elections it contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters were fourth with just over 9%.

More than fifty parties participated in the election, many of which won small shares, but the three main opposition parties seem the most obvious for the ANC to approach.

Electoral Commission chairman Mosotho Moepya said it is a time for everyone to remain calm “and for leaders to lead and for voices of reason to continue to prevail.”

Former President of South Africa Jacob Zuma sits at the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) stand at the IEC’s National Results Operation Center

The official unemployment rate is 32% and poverty disproportionately affects black people

“This is a moment that we need to manage and manage well,” he said.

Steenhuisen said his party is open to talks with the ANC, as is Malema. The MK party said one of their conditions for an agreement was for Ramaphosa to be removed as ANC leader and president. That underscored the fierce personal political battle between Zuma, who resigned as South Africa’s president in 2018 under a cloud of corruption allegations, and Ramaphosa, who replaced him.

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

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for the nationalization of parts of the economy.

The centrist Democratic Alliance, or DA, is seen as business-friendly. Analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors.

DA has been the most critical opposition party for years and does not share the ANC’s pro-Russian and pro-Chinese foreign policy. South Africa will take over the presidency of the Group of Twenty industrialized and emerging countries next year.

An ANC-DA coalition ‘would be a marriage between two drunk people in Las Vegas. It will never work,” Gayton McKenzie, the leader of the smaller Patriotic Alliance party, told South African media.

DA says an ANC-MK-EFF deal would be a ‘doomsday coalition’ as MK and EFF are made up of former ANC figures and would pursue the same failed policies.

A woman cleans a pot in the kitchen of a restaurant in the township of Alexandra on May 31, 2024 in Johannesburg

Men joke while drinking a beer outside their home in an informal settlement in Alexandra township on May 31, 2024 in Johannesburg

Women collect clean water in an informal settlement in Alexandra township on May 31, 2024 in Johannesburg

The three opposition parties had a combined share greater than that of the ANC, but it is very unlikely that they will all work together. The DA was also part of a pre-election agreement with other smaller parties to potentially form a coalition.

Amid all this, there was no celebration among ordinary South Africans, but rather a realization that a difficult political road lay ahead. In the Daily Maverick newspaper, a South African scratched his head with the words: ‘What does this mean for our future?’ on the frontpage. The Die Burger newspaper led with an image of a dozen political party logos being put into a meat grinder.

South Africa’s opposition parties were united in one thing: something had to change in the country of 62 million, the most developed country in Africa, but also one of the most unequal in the world.

The official unemployment rate is 32% and poverty disproportionately affects black people, who make up 80% of the population and have been at the core of the ANC’s support for years. The number of violent crimes is also high.

The ANC has seen a steady decline in its support over the past two decades, albeit by about three to five percentage points per election. It fell 17 percentage points this time from the 57.5% it gained in 2019.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote, and the electoral commission estimated turnout to be around 60%.

People lined up on a cold winter night and waited hours after the polls officially closed, with some votes cast at 3am the next day. That signaled the desire of many to have their say, but also reflected one of South Africa’s inherent problems: some polling stations were delayed due to power outages, leaving them in limbo.