South Africa’s ruling party has vowed not to replace Cyril Ramaphosa, the president, amid calls for him to step down to allow coalition talks to go ahead.
Official results from Wednesday’s vote show the African National Congress (ANC) has lost its grip on political power for the first time in 30 years.
The result means that the ANC must now share power, in the form of a coalition, in order to keep it – an unprecedented prospect since the democratic end of white minority rule in 1994.
In two weeks’ time, a new parliament will sit to choose a president, who would likely emerge from the ANC as the biggest party.
The party’s poor showing has fuelled speculation that Mr 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.
Fikile Mbalula, the party’s secretary general, said on Sunday the ANC would not bend to pressure from other parties that Mr Ramaphosa, once Nelson Mandela’s leading negotiator to end apartheid, must step down.
“That is a no-go area,” he said.
COSATU – South Africa’s largest trade union group and a major ANC ally – also rallied behind Mr Ramaphosa.
Matthew Parks, the COSATU spokesman, said: “What’s key is that a coalition be led by the ANC and president Ramaphosa.”
Before Wednesday’s vote, the ANC had won every national election by a landslide since 1994, but over the last decade its support has waned.
Voters, angry at joblessness, inequality and rolling blackouts, withdrew their support for the legacy party of Mandela to 40 per cent, down from 57.5 per cent in the 2019 parliamentary vote.
“Did we commit mistakes? Yes, we did. In governance and everywhere else,” Mr Mbalula said on Sunday during the first press briefing the ANC has held since the polls, adding the party had “nothing to celebrate”.
“The ANC is committed to the formation of a government that reflects the will of the people, that is stable and that is able to govern effectively,” Mr Mbalula added.
He said the ANC would be having discussions internally and with other parties to create national and provisional governments “that reflect the will of the people and that are able to take the country forward”.
Counting from the May 29 poll was all but complete on Sunday afternoon, with results in from 99.9 per cent of polling stations.
The main opposition party, the white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA), received 21.8 per cent of votes.
uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) – “spear of the nation” in the Zulu language – a new party led by Jacob Zuma, the former president, and named after the ANC’s former armed wing, managed to take 14.6 per cent, doing most of the damage to the ANC.
Despite doing better than expected, MK said it was considering challenging the results in court.
The far-Left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema, a former ANC youth leader, got 9.5 per cent.
The prospect of an ANC coalition with either the EFF or MK has rattled South Africa’s business community and international investors, who would prefer a partnership that brings in the DA.
The leaderships of both the DA and the small Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) were due to meet separately on Sunday to discuss the next steps.
Charity McCord, the DA spokesman, said: “We will look at the final lie of the land,” adding there had been no coalition talks yet with any party.
Local media reported that 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 IFP could also be part of such a deal.
Mr Mbalula said the ANC’s leadership would meet on Tuesday for discussions on the way forward.
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