South African Electoral Commission confirms historic failure of Mandela’s party

South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) confirmed this Sunday the electoral loss of the African National Congress (ANC), the party that is ruling the country. Nelson Mandelawho won the general election last Wednesday but lost its absolute majority For the first time in thirty years.

The ANC won 159 out of 400 seats in the National Assembly (the lower house of Parliament), the chairperson of the IEC confirmed. Mosotho Moepyaon the announcement of Official results The elections in Johannesburg, attended by the ANC leader and the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa,

With around 40.20 percent of the votes, the ANC has assured this Ramaphosa will continue to lead the partyFor the first time since the end of the separatist regime, a deal will have to be agreed with other structures Apartheid and the establishment of democracy in 1994. These results represent a 17-point drop compared to the last elections in 2019 and a loss of 71 seats in the National Assembly, where until now it had a comfortable majority of 230.

The White Democratic Alliance (AD, liberal centre-right) remains in second place John Steenhuizenwhich slightly improved its results with 21.80 percent of the vote and 87 seats in the House. The AD is the main opposition party, inheritor of the white political leadership that opposed it Apartheid and is traditionally associated with the vote of the white minority, which represents 7.70 percent of the South African population.

The former president’s new formation, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK Party), came as a big surprise Jacob Zuma (2009-2018), which erupted This is the first general election With 14.60 percent of the votes, the MK Party has come third behind the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malemafrom the extreme left and the third force before the election, which came in fourth with 9.50 percent. These percentages translate into 58 seats for the MK party and 39 seats for the EFF, respectively.

The presence of Zuma’s party has significantly influenced the division of ANC votes, as have the corruption scandals committed by the former president and the problems affecting the country such as high unemployment, crime or cuts in electricity.

First coalition government

With this panorama, the ANC is forced into an unknown scenario: that of an electoral pact that, supposedly, would grant the young South African democracy his first coalition executive. The historic ruling party is ready to hold talks with any formation, its general secretary said, Fikile Mbalulaat a press conference this Sunday. This includes the new party of Zuma, who was expelled from the ANC for publicly supporting MK when he was a member of Mandela’s party.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were called to vote in Wednesday’s general and provincial elections. Despite the apparent enthusiasm among the population, the IEC estimates participation at 58.61 percent, far higher than the 66 percent in 2019. South Africans voted among seventy parties and eleven independent candidates for 400 members of the National Assembly, who in turn must elect the president. They also elected officials for the country’s nine provinces. After being questioned by parties such as MK and the EFF, the IEC assured that the elections, overseen by an observation mission from the African Union (AU), had been “free, fair and peaceful”.