Johannesburg,
Saturday, 1 June, 2024
McCreadie Andias
South Africa is preparing for coalition talks as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has failed to reach the 50% majority mark for the first time since the fall of apartheid while 97.22% of the votes have already been counted.
This will be the first time the country’s government looks to share power since Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the Country’s first black president in 1994.
Currently ANC’s share of the vote currently stands at 40%.Trailing behind are the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%, the MK party led by former President Jacob Zuma on 15% and the EFF with 9%.
The recent drop in parliamentary majority has been attributed to ANC’s high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime which have sparked anger on voters.
Political analysts in the country say that although there were a lot of votes still to be counted, there was no way the ANC could reach the 50% needed to form a government on its own.The it could hope for was 45%. So to hold on to power the party will need to form a coalition with one or more other parties.
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe said his party was unlikely to form an alliance with the centre-right DA, which is currently polling in second place with 22% of the vote.
A record 70 parties and 11 independents were running, with South Africans voting for a new parliament and nine provincial legislatures.
The DA has signed a pact with 10 of them, agreeing to form a coalition government if they get enough votes to dislodge the ANC from power. But this does not include the EFF or MK, who would be needed to form a majority.
Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is leading the African Union election observer mission in South Africa, offered some advice for forming coalitions.
He said coalition governments need to focus on areas of agreement instead of differences.
“I can only wish them well and hope that the leadership will take this decision by the people in a positive frame,” he said.
The final results are expected over the weekend.