After 30 years of power in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) has lost its parliamentary majority after winning only 40% of the vote, by far its worst result since democratic elections began in 1994 after the end of apartheid.
Over the last four electoral phases, the ANC’s vote share has progressively decreased, although never by more than five percentage points from one election to the next.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), a possible coalition partner, received the second-highest vote with 22.6%.
At the same time, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party founded by former President Jacob Zuma and very popular in Zulu areas*, came in third with 12.2%, eroding ANC support, notably in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Complicating matters for the ANC, the MK has consistently stated that it would not join any coalition government if President Cyril Ramaphosa remains in office. It also vowed to dispute the electoral results in court despite doing better than projected.
MK prevailed over the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) headed by Julius Malema, presently the third largest party in parliament, which received only 9.5%.
Ramaphosa, the ANC party leader and South Africa’s president, essentially will be forced to resign after being severely damaged by the election results.
With results from 99.9% of polling stations, the ANC was at 40.15 percent, a sharp dip from the 57.5% it received in the previous general election 2019.
However, ANC officials insisted on Sunday that the party will not give in to pressure from other political forces to dump him.
If Ramaphosa survives the backlash from voters, he will continue to arrange a coalition pact with another party to achieve a legislative majority.
*Zulu are an indigenous people and the largest ethnic group in South Africa.