Election in South Africa: ANC Officials Remain Optimistic About Victory

The long-ruling African National Congress party led the national assembly election, according to partial results released on Thursday, May 30. Nevertheless, this was still just an early picture following Wednesday’s vote, with about 34% of the votes counted by Thursday at 6 PM UTC.

Since the nation’s first democratic elections in 1994, the ruling ANC has never indeed been in danger of losing control. On May 30, the party’s First Deputy Secretary-General said, speaking from Johannesburg, that the partial results “put to shame” the worst predictions.

Rival parties criticized the ANC’s perceived haughtiness, with uMkhonto weSizwe party secretary general Sihle Ngubane stating that “economically, they failed.”

Though it’s still too early to tell if the ANC will receive less than 50% of the vote, political analyst Joleen Steyn-kotze said that regardless of the outcome, South African political parties might need to alter their political methods.

“We must progress towards fostering a cooperative relationship between political parties, as they may eventually have to cooperate,” the speaker stated.

Under South Africa’s parliamentary system, if no party receives the majority of votes, political parties must form coalitions to choose a president.