After The Iec Announces The Election Results, South Africa Enters A Coalition Era

As historic coalition discussions get underway, official results from Sunday, June 2, indicated that no party secured a majority in South Africa’s election.

In the parliamentary election, which saw 58.6% of voters cast ballots, the ANC won by slightly more than 40%.

Professor Patrick Bond, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, says it means the center-left African National Congress (ANC) has to decide whether to form a coalition with the Democratic Alliance, a centrist opposition party.

“A true turning point for the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress’s national executive committee. Would the ANC prefer to barely scrape by at around 50 percent with a combination of small parties, maybe one of them the fourth party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, or even reaching out to Jacob Zuma and saying, come back and we’ll give you deputy president and your honor will be restored.” Or will it be to both of their advantages to combine with a solid 62 percent of the vote.”

In the 400-seat Parliament, the ANC secured 159 seats, a decrease from the 230 it secured in the previous election. To 87 seats, the DA somewhat increased.