The African National Congress, which was previously Nelson Mandela’s party and is currently in power in South Africa, lost its majority due to a decline in support.
The ANC’s uncontested hold on political power has come to an end, according to official poll results from Wednesday. These results also suggest that a coalition government agreement with one or more opposition parties is likely.
Political parties have two weeks to reach an agreement before the parliament meets to elect a president.
Voters who were unhappy with the ruling party left, many of them unemployed, suffering from different forms of inequality and rolling blackouts. After reaching 57.5% in the 2019 parliamentary election, the ANC now stands at 40%.
In the 400-seat parliament, the ANC had 159 seats, down from 230 in the last legislature, according to the Independent Electoral Commission on Sunday night.
Fikile Mbalula, the secretary-general of the party, asked, “Did we make mistakes? Indeed, we did. both in governance and other areas. “Nothing to celebrate” was the party’s added statement.
As a result, the ANC will likely have to share power with a significant political competitor in order to maintain it, which is a situation that hasn’t existed since the democratic end of white minority rule in 1994.
“The African National Congress (ANC) is dedicated to establishing a government that accurately represents the will of the people, is stable, and has the capacity to rule effectively,” stated Mbalula.
In order to establish national and local governments “that reflect the will of the people and that are able to take the country forward,” he continued, the ANC would hold talks both within and with other parties.
Due to the party’s dismal performance, there has been conjecture that Ramaphosa’s time may be running out, either because of expectations from a potential coalition partner or an internal leadership challenge.
The ANC, according to Mbalula, would not yield to demands from other parties that Ramaphosa, who served as Mandela’s principal negotiator for the end of white minority rule, resign.
He declared, “That is a no-go area.”
COSATU, the biggest trade union organization in South Africa and a significant ANC ally, united in support of Ramaphosa.
COSATU spokesman Matthew Parks stated, “What’s important is that a coalition be led by the ANC and President Ramaphosa.”
The African National Congress (ANC) used to win every national elections by landslide starting in 1994, but in the recent ten years, its support has declined.
With 21.8% of the vote, the Democratic Alliance (DA), a pro-business party led by white people, was the biggest opposition party.
With 14.6% of the vote, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which means “spear of the nation” in Zulu, a new party founded by former President Jacob Zuma and named after the ANC’s former armed wing, was able to inflict the most damage on the ANC.
Even though the results were better than anticipated, MK said that it was thinking about filing a legal challenge.
9.5% went to the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which is led by Julius Malema, a former youth leader of the ANC.
The business community in South Africa and foreign investors are uneasy about the possibility of an ANC alliance with either the EFF or MK. They would much rather see a coalition that includes the DA.
In a speech that was streamed on the DA’s YouTube page, leader John Steenhuisen declared that the party has sent a team to start negotiations with other parties in order to avert this kind of partnership, which he referred to as a “doomsday coalition.”
