The African National Congress (ANC) has won the elections held this Wednesday in South Africa, but the first partial results made public by the electoral commission suggest that it has lost the absolute majority it enjoyed in Parliament since the first multiparty elections 30 years ago. With 33% of the votes counted, Nelson Mandela’s political heirs obtain 42.1%, which represents a drop of 15 points compared to the 2019 elections, in which they obtained 57.5% of the ballots . If these results are confirmed, the ANC will have to seek agreements so that its candidate and current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, remains in office.
These partial results confirm the trend advanced by the polls: the ANC is heading towards a painful electoral victory in which it loses its absolute majority. Meanwhile, the liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) party obtained second place with 24.8% of the votes, the best result in its history. In 2019 it achieved 20.7%, so it is a significant increase that confirms it as the main opposition party. For their part, the left-wing groups Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of Julius Malema and the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) of former president Jacob Zuma are competing for third position with 9% and 9.1% of the votes, respectively.
The numerous cases of corruption in which senior officials of the Government and the ANC have been involved are among the first causes of the wear and tear suffered by this party in the last decade and which has led it to lose the comfortable majority it enjoyed. Likewise, the high unemployment rates close to 33%, as well as the increase in citizen insecurity and the poor quality of public services, with electricity and water cuts in large cities, have contributed to the disenchantment of the population towards their rulers. .
The publication of the full provisional results is scheduled for this Sunday. If the first count data holds, one of the unknowns that will have to be resolved after the official proclamation of the results is that of the post-electoral pacts. The EFF party, which defines itself as Marxist and pan-Africanist, is emerging as one of the possible preferred partners of the ANC. Malema himself, who was the leader of the ANC youth, already offered Ramaphosa during the campaign the possibility of forming a coalition government and claimed the Ministry of Economy for his own.
Both the DA of John Steenhuisen, considered a defender of the white minority and at the ideological antipodes of the ANC, and Zuma’s party, whom his former colleagues accuse of betrayal, start with fewer options to reach some type of agreement, although everything It will depend on parliamentary arithmetic. In addition, Zuma has been involved in several corruption scandals. The High Court of South Africa is investigating him for his participation in an arms trafficking and bribery scheme worth 4.6 billion euros. Specifically, he is accused of 12 counts of fraud, two of corruption, one of money laundering and another of illicit association. In 2021 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt in this same case, which has prevented his candidacy in these elections.
The other unknown is Ramaphosa’s own future. When he came to power in 2018 to replace Zuma, he promised to return the ANC to its former glory. However, under his leadership the party has been losing votes election after election and it is expected that critical voices will emerge within the ANC, as happened in 2022, when half a million euros in cash were found hidden under some cushions in his Phala Phala estate. Amid corruption allegations, Ramaphosa wins support in extremisof his colleagues, but his lack of electoral success could take its toll and make the party opt for another profile to take the reins of the country.
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