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With most of the results now in from South Africa’s election, the long-ruling African National Congress (ANC) will have to contend with sharing power after a historic loss of its parliamentary majority.
Counting in over 97 percent of voting districts was complete, and the ANC’s share of the vote currently stood at 40 percent.
Trailing behind are the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 22 percent, the MK party led by former President Jacob Zuma with 15 percent, and the EFF with 9 percent, reported the BBC.
The ANC had always polled above 50 percent since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, which saw Nelson Mandela become president. However, support for the party has been dropping significantly due to anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment, and crime.
One woman who has voted for the ANC in every election for 30 years switched to the DA this time, citing the cost-of-living crisis and frequent power cuts.
“This result is not good. I wanted it out of government. We need to give someone else a chance,” she told the BBC.
Read More: ANC may lose majority in South Africa’s Parliament for the first time in 30 years
Political analyst, Sanusha Naidoo, told the BBC that although there are still votes to be counted, there is no way the ANC can reach the 50 percent needed to form a government on its own.
She said the best it could hope for is 45 percent.
To hold on to power, the party would need to form a coalition with one or more other parties.
ANC chairperson, Gwede Mantashe. said his party was unlikely to form an alliance with the center-right DA, which is currently polling in second place with 22 percent of the vote.
He emphasized that there would have to be “policy alignment” between parties for a coalition agreement.
For the ANC, its black empowerment policies aimed at giving black people a stake in the economy following their exclusion during the apartheid era are “non-negotiable.”
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