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South Africa Elections Update (06/14): ANC agrees to coalition deal with center-right/pro-business party


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Early election count puts African National Congress on 42% of the vote, compared with 57% in final tally in 2019

 

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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party looks set to lose its majority for the first time since it swept to power at the end of apartheid, in a watershed moment for the country, as support for the former liberation movement collapsed below 50% in partial results.

 

With 31.1% of votes counted by early evening on Thursday, South Africa was on the precipice of an era of national coalition government. The ANC had 42.3% of the vote, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance on 25% and the Marxist-inspired Economic Freedom Fighters on 9%.

 

Not far behind the EFF, on 8.8%, was the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, launched in December by Jacob Zuma, who was forced to resign as president of South Africa in 2018 amid corruption allegations. Since then he has waged a bitter feud with the current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and his new party has upended the elections, even while Zuma himself was barred from running due to a 2021 prison sentence for contempt of court.

 

If the final results of Wednesday’s election are similar to early results, it would be a stunning blow for the ANC, which has led South Africa since it won the country’s first fully democratic elections under Nelson Mandela in 1994.

 

 

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Cyril Ramaphosa has led the ruling ANC to its worst result since it won the first democratic vote in 1994.

 

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South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is under growing pressure after leading the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to its worst election result in 30 years, forcing it to share power.

 

With almost all the votes in from Wednesday's poll, the ANC is on 40% - down from 58% at the previous election.

 

This is lower than the party's feared worst-case scenario of 45%, analysts say.

 

The ANC has always polled above 50% since the country's first democratic elections in 1994, which saw Nelson Mandela become president.

 

But support for the party has been dropping significantly because of anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime.

 

Citing the cost-of-living crisis and frequent power cuts, one woman told the BBC she had voted for the ANC for the past 30 years, but had backed the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) this time.

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to South Africa: ANC loses parliamentary majority for the first time since end of apartheid, must form coalition government
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WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

Country’s second-largest party reportedly agrees to support re-election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president

 

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South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is poised to be re-elected after the African National Congress struck a coalition deal with the country’s second largest party, the pro-business Democratic Alliance, local media reported, as MPs were sworn in before parliament votes for the president.

 

Under the agreement, which is not yet public, the DA will support Ramaphosa’s election for a second term and an ANC speaker of parliament, in return for the position of deputy speaker, according to the public South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the news website TimesLive.

 

The votes will take place later on Friday, after legislators are sworn in at a convention centre in Cape Town, while the parliament buildings are still being renovated after a fire in 2022. Local media reports that a new coalition cabinet may take longer to form.

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to South Africa Elections Update (06/14): ANC agrees to coalition deal with center-right/pro-business party

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