South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on June 2 that it would enter talks with other parties to form a new government, after losing its three-decade-old absolute majority in a watershed election.

With 99.91% of the votes from Wednesday’s election counted, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress had only 40.2%, a catastrophic slump from the 57.5% it won in 2019.

Also read | Why was Jacob Zuma disallowed from contesting elections in South Africa: Explained

“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,” ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told a press conference.

“The voters of South Africa have shown that they expect the leaders of this country to work together in the interests of all,” he said.

The party must negotiate a coalition government or at least persuade others to back Mr. Ramaphosa’s re-election in parliament to allow him to form a minority administration.

Mr. Mbalula said the ANC would hold discussions internally and with other groups “over the next few days”.

It marks a historic turning point for South Africa as the party has enjoyed an absolute majority since 1994, when liberation hero Nelson Mandela led the nation out of white-minority rule and into democracy.

‘Clear message’

“The results send a clear message to the ANC,” Mr. Mbalula said.

“We wish to assure the people of South Africa that we have heard them. We have heard their concerns, their frustrations and their dissatisfaction.”

The final results are to be formally announced on Sunday, with Mr. Ramaphosa due to deliver an address during an official ceremony near Johannesburg.

But some parties have alleged discrepancies in the vote count.

The largest and most vocal was former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), which warned electoral authorities against going ahead with the final announcements.

“If that happens you are going to be provoking us,” Mr. Zuma, 82, said on Saturday, alleging unspecified “serious” issues but providing no supporting evidence.

He said he would make a speech when the final results were announced.

Data from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) showed MK in third place on 14.59%, a surprise score for a party founded just months ago as a vehicle for the former ANC secretary general.

But throughout the campaign, MK told supporters it was going to win two-thirds of the vote.

‘No-go area’

The ANC will now have to turn to opponents from the left or the right to form a government.

The centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) held second place with 21.78%, slightly up on its 20.77% showing in 2019.

It governs Western Cape province and has promised a free-market agenda at odds with the ANC’s left-wing traditions.

DA chairwoman Helen Zille said all options were on the table, including allowing the ANC to rule alone as a minority government.

The radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, was in fourth with 9.51%.

Mr. Malema and Mr. Zuma are former ANC members and some observers have suggested they would be more natural partners for a governing coalition.

Other analysts said their demands might be hard to meet, and the rift between Mr. Ramaphosa and Mr. Zuma — who has long been bitter about the way he was forced out of office in 2018 — too far reaching to mend.

MK said it would not negotiate with the ANC as long as Mr. Ramaphosa remained its leader.

But Mr. Mbalula said that was “a no-go area”.

“No political party will dictate terms like that to us,” he said.

Mr. Zuma, who was forced out of office in 2018 under a cloud of corruption allegations, was jailed for contempt of court in 2021, an event that triggered riots in which more than 350 people died.

On Sunday, Police Minister Bheki Cele said the security forces were ready “to ensure continued peaceful conditions after the elections”, adding that “There is no room for threats of instability.”

Speaking alongside him, Defence Minister Thandi Modise said the government had “not engaged directly with the MK party” but had “called for calm during the campaign”.

“We will not tolerate for anyone to tarnish South Africa,” Modise said.

The ANC remains respected for its leading role in overthrowing white minority rule, and its progressive social welfare and black economic empowerment policies are credited by supporters with helping millions of black families out of poverty.

But over three decades of almost unchallenged rule, its leadership has been implicated in a series of corruption scandals, while the continent’s most industrialised economy has languished and crime and unemployment figures have hit record highs.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa casts his vote during the South African elections in Soweto, South Africa, on May 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Africa was heading closer to the reality of a national coalition government for the first time on Friday as partial election results put the ruling African National Congress well short of a majority.

With more than half of votes counted across the country’s nine provinces, the ANC had received just under 42% of the national vote. That represented a huge drop from the 57.5% it received in the last national election in 2019, although the final results from Wednesday’s election have not yet been declared.

The commission that runs the election said those would be announced by Sunday, possibly sooner.

The count from more than 13,000 of the 23,000 polling stations raised the strong possibility that the ANC would need a coalition partner to form a government and re-elect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term.

The leader of South Africa’s main Opposition party said he was open to working with the ANC, although he would have to first speak with a group of other parties that he has a preelection agreement with.

“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said John Steenhuisen, the leader of the Democratic Alliance party.

The ANC is widely expected to still be the biggest party and to have the most seats in parliament.

A child plays with her teddy bear as people cast their votes at a polling station on the Cape Flats during South African elections in Cape Town, South Africa, May 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The African National Congress appeared on course to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, partial results from South Africa’s national election showed, in what would be the most dramatic political shift since the end of apartheid.

With results from 10% of polling stations, the ANC’s share of the vote on May 29th’s election stood at 42.3%, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) at 26.3% and the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at 8.1%, data from the electoral commission showed.

If the final results were to resemble the early picture, the ANC would be forced to make a deal with one or more other parties to govern— a situation that could lead to unprecedented political volatility in the coming weeks or months.

Under South Africa’s constitution, the newly elected National Assembly will elect the next president.

With the ANC still on course to be the largest party, its leader Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to remain as the country’s president, although a poor showing could make him vulnerable to a leadership challenge from within party ranks.

The ANC has won national elections held every five years since the landmark 1994 election, which marked the end of apartheid and the ascent of Nelson Mandela as President.

But since those heady days the ANC’s support has declined because of disillusionment over issues such as high unemployment and crime, frequent power blackouts and corruption.

The early results showed the ANC and the DA neck-and-neck on about 34% each in the key province of Gauteng, which includes the country’s business capital Johannesburg and the sprawling townships of Soweto and Alexandra.

The Zuma factor

In KwaZulu-Natal, a populous eastern province where the major city of Durban is located, a new party led by former President Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), was performing strongly, with 41.7% of the vote versus 20.1% for the ANC.

Zuma was forced to quit as President in 2018 after a string of scandals and has since fallen out with the ANC leadership, leading him to throw his weight behind MK. The party, named after the ANC’s armed wing from the apartheid era, appeared to be costing both the ANC and the EFF votes, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.

By law, the electoral commission has seven days to declare full results, but in practice it is usually faster than that. In the last election, in 2019, voting took place on May 29 like this year and final results came on May 31

The new Parliament must convene within 14 days of final results being declared and its first act must be to elect the nation’s President.

This means that if the ANC is confirmed to have lost its majority there could be two weeks of intense and complex negotiations to agree on how to form a new government.