South African elections: The first results indicate that the country is on its way to the largest political transformation since apartheid

Johannesburg, South Africa
CNN
—

Early results from South African elections Opinion polls indicate that the ruling African National Congress may lose its majority for the first time in 30 years.

With results from 22% of polling stations available at 4pm local time, support for the ANC stood at 43.5%.

Data from the country’s electoral commission showed that the official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, received 24.7% of the vote, while the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, a splinter party of the African National Congress, received 8.9%.

Respected research group Similar to CSIR The ANC had won less than 45% of the national election as of mid-morning on Thursday.

Officials at the Independent Electoral Commission stressed that the official vote counting process may take several days, and that some larger voting districts may take longer.

In the last election, results from rural areas – where the ANC has major strongholds – came in later, boosting the party’s results.

Once all the votes are counted, if the ANC remains below 50%, it will be forced to enter into a coalition with one or more parties. Depending on how low his support is, he may need to form a deal with one of the larger opposition parties such as the DA or EFF to remain in power.

Another ANC splinter party, Umkhonto Wesizwe, led by former president Jacob Zuma, looks set to do well in KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern coastal province where Durban is located. At 10 a.m. local time, he had 42.3% of the vote there compared to 20.1% for the ANC.

Zuma – a fierce critic of the current ANC leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – was forced to… Resigning from the position of leader in 2018 He served a short stint in prison in 2021 for contempt of court. He was 82 years old Preventing him from running for parliament Last week, after the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that five years must have passed since the end of his sentence. However, his face remained on the ballot.

The South African Electoral Commission has seven days to announce the final results under the law. However, it is usually announced sooner than that. This year, the committee has set Sunday, June 2, as the final date for the results.

If the ANC loses its majority, it will have 14 days once the final results are announced to form a new government before the new parliament convenes to elect the country’s president.