For the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994, the once-dominant party will need to make a deal with other parties to form a coalition government.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party, received the second-highest number of votes (21.78 percent) followed by the MK party (14.59 percent) and EFF (9.51 percent).
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will announce the official results on Monday night at 6pm local time (16:00GMT).
Ahead of the May 29 elections, a record 27.7 million South Africans registered to vote. However, only 16.2 million votes were cast on election day, resulting in a voter turnout of 58.61 percent – the lowest ever in South Africa’s 30-year democratic history.
In fact, voter turnout has been on a gradual decline in recent years. In 1999, nearly 90 percent of the registered voters cast their ballots, while the 2019 election had a 66 percent turnout.
The ANC managed enough votes to secure more than 50 percent in five out of South Africa’s nine provinces: Limpopo (74 percent), the Eastern Cape (63 percent), North West (58 percent), Free State (53 percent), and Mpumalanga (52 percent).
In the Northern Cape (49 percent) and Gauteng (36 percent), the ANC fell short of a majority and will need to find coalition partners to form the government.
And in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), former President Jacob Zuma’s MK received the highest number of votes at some 46 percent, ahead of the ANC which managed about 18 percent.
Of nearly 39,000 South Africans who voted from outside the country, more than 75 percent voted for the DA. South Africans do not directly vote for the president.
Instead, they elect the members of the National Assembly, who then elect the president by a simple majority – 201 or more votes determine the presidency.
Following the IEC’s announcement of results, certain procedural steps must be followed for South Africa to form a government. They include:
Allocation of seats: Seats in the 400-member National Assembly are proportionately allocated based on the election results.
First sitting of the National Assembly: Within 14 days of the election results, the newly elected National Assembly must hold its first sitting, where members are sworn in and the speaker is elected.
Election of the president: During the first sitting, or soon after, the National Assembly elects the president of South Africa, who is then responsible for appointing the cabinet and forming the government.
Formation of government: Once the president is elected, the process of forming a government, including the appointment of ministers, usually follows.
The entire process is usually completed within a couple of weeks to ensure a smooth transition of power and continuity of governance.
South Africa’s current president, 71-year-old Cyril Ramaphosa, has indicated he will not resign following the ANC’s poor performance at the polls.
The former anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader and businessman from Soweto was hoping for his second and final term as president.
Some opposition parties, including Zuma’s MK party, have ruled out a coalition deal with the ANC unless it sacks Ramaphosa first.
The ANC had received a majority in all six national elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became the country’s first Black president.
In 1994, the ANC won 62.5 percent of the vote. In 1999, it won 66.4 percent. In 2004, it clinched almost 70 percent of the vote – its highest ever. In 2009, it won nearly 66 percent of the votes, and in 2014, the figure was 62 percent.
In the last election in 2019, the ANC achieved its lowest margin of victory, winning 57.5 percent of the vote.The DA has come second in the past five elections.
The lower house of parliament is currently represented by 400 members from 14 political parties, allocated proportionally based on the votes each party received in the 2019 elections.
ANC: 230 seats (57.5 percent)
DA: 84 seats (21 percent)
EFF: 44 seats (11 percent)
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 14 seats (3.5 percent)
Ten other parties make up the remaining 28 seats.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the country’s political parties to work together for the good of the country as final results from last week’s election confirmed his African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority for the first time.
The result, announced on Sunday, is the worst election showing for the ANC – Africa’s oldest liberation movement, once led by Nelson Mandela – since it came to power 30 years ago, ending white minority rule.
Voters, angry at joblessness, inequality and rolling blackouts, slashed support for the ANC to 40.2 percent, down from 57.5 percent in the 2019 parliamentary vote.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.6 percent and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, managed to grab 14.7 percent – pulling away votes from the ANC.
Official results showed the ANC winning 159 seats in the 400-seat National Assembly, down from 230 previously.
“South Africans expect the parties for which they have voted to find common ground, overcome their differences, and act together for the good of everyone. That’s what South Africans have said,” Ramaphosa said after the electoral commission announced the final results.He called the election a “victory for our democracy”.
“This is the time for all of us to put South Africa first,” Ramaphosa added.
Reporting from the Results Operation Centre in Midrand, South Africa, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said the ANC will now try to find a way to form a new government.
“It has to find a partner in order to be able to govern. Otherwise, it could try to form a minority government, which could make it very difficult to pass any form of legislation or advance ANC policy,” he said.
ANC officials earlier said the party was humbled by the result and had “nothing to celebrate” but stood by Ramaphosa, once Mandela’s lead negotiator to end apartheid, and said they would not bend to pressure for him to step down.
The poor showing has fuelled speculation that Ramaphosa’s days might be numbered, either because of the demands of a prospective coalition partner, or as a result of an internal leadership challenge.
“That is a no-go area,” Fikile Mbalula, ANC’s secretary general, told a press briefing, the party’s first since the polls.
“Did we commit mistakes? Yes, we did. In governance and everywhere else,” he said, adding the ANC is now committed to forming a government “that is stable and that is able to govern effectively”.
Political parties now have two weeks to work out a deal before the new parliament sits to choose a president, who would likely still hail from the ANC, since it remains the biggest force.
Local media reported the DA could be open to entering a cooperation pact with the ANC, supporting it in key decisions in exchange for top jobs in parliament. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) would also be part of such a deal.
“I would almost certainly think [the ANC] wouldn’t just go with the DA. They would most probably go with somebody like the IFP as well just because of the perception that the DA is a very white party,” said Melanie Verwoerd, a political analyst.
The ANC’s leadership will meet on Tuesday to plot the path forward.
