Official results from the Independent Electoral Commission indicate that discussions for a coalition may be in progress in South Africa, as no party achieved a majority in the recently concluded parliamentary elections. In the election, of the 58.6% of voters who participated, the foremost party, the African National Congress (ANC), secured just over 40%.
According to Professor Patrick Bond, a political analyst from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, the conclusive outcome presents the ANC with the decision of whether to form a coalition with the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA).
“A real national executive committee crunch point for both the ANC and the Democratic Alliance. Will it be to both of their advantage to combine with a solid 62% of the vote or would the ANC rather just scrape by at about 50 with a combination of small parties, possibly one of them the fourth party, the economic freedom fighters, or even reaching out to Jacob Zuma and saying, come back and we’ll give you deputy president and your honour will be restored.”
The ANC’s tally of seats fell from 230 in the previous election to 159 seats in the recently concluded poll, whereas the DA secured 87 seats.
Of the eight political parties, four major ones divided the votes from last week’s election.
In light of the parliamentary poll results, President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged political parties to establish a coalition government.
“We know Cyril’s leadership, and I think there’s a lot of certainty in Cyril’s leadership. We understand the way in which the policies have been created and I think also Cyril will probably be more likely to collaborate with other parties and allow for this inter-party mix,” Peter Baur a political economist at the University of Johannesburg.
There’s a need for coalition discussions and for uncertainty to be reduced, considering that the new Parliament must convene for the inaugural session and elect a president within 14 days of the declaration of election results.