South Africa’s ruling African National Congress – once the party of Nelson Mandela, lost its majority following dwindling support.
Official results from Wednesday’s poll confirmed the end of the ANC’s unchallenged grip on political power, pointing to a likelihood of a coalition government deal with one or more opposition parties.
Ahead of the sitting of Parliamentarians to choose a president, political parties have two weeks to finalize a deal.
Dissatisfied voters, many of them jobless and suffering from various shades of inequality and rolling blackouts, ditched the ruling party. The ANC dropped to 40%, down from 57.5% in the 2019 parliamentary vote.
The IEC on Sunday evening said the ANC won 159 seats in the 400-seat parliament, down from 230 in the previous assembly.
In a press briefing, the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, said:
“Did we commit mistakes? Yes, we did. In governance and everywhere else.” Adding that the party had “nothing to celebrate.”
The result means that the ANC must now share power, likely with a major political rival, in order to keep it – an unprecedented prospect since the democratic end of white minority rule in 1994.
“The ANC is committed to the formation of a government that reflects the will of the people, that is stable, and that is able to govern effectively,” Mbalula said.
He added that the ANC would have discussions internally and with other parties to create national and provincial governments “that reflect the will of the people and that are able to take the country forward.”
The party’s poor showing has fueled speculation that Ramaphosa’s days might be numbered, either due to the demands of a prospective coalition partner or as a result of an internal leadership challenge.
Mbalula said the ANC would not bend to pressure from other parties that Ramaphosa, once Mandela’s lead negotiator to end white minority rule, must step down.
“That is a no-go area,” he said.
South Africa’s largest trade union group, COSATU, a major ANC support base rallied behind Ramaphosa.
“What’s key is that a coalition be led by the ANC and President Ramaphosa,” COSATU spokesman Matthew Parks said.
In the past, the ANC had won every national election by a landslide since 1994, but over the last decade its support has waned.
The main opposition party, the white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA), received 21.8% of votes.
uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) – “spear of the nation” in the Zulu language – a new party led by former President Jacob Zuma and named after the ANC’s former armed wing, managed to take 14.6%, doing most of the damage to the ANC.
Despite doing better than expected, MK said it was considering challenging the results in court.
The far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, got 9.5%.
The prospect of an ANC tie-up with either the EFF or MK has rattled South Africa’s business community and international investors, who would prefer a coalition that brings in the DA.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said in an address broadcast on the party’s YouTube channel that it had named a team to begin talks with other parties with the aim of preventing such an alliance, which he called a “doomsday coalition.”