South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is on the verge of losing its majority in parliament for the first time since it came to power 30 years ago, according to partial results from Wednesday’s parliamentary election.
The ruling ANC has won every national election in South Africa since the historic 1994 elections when a majority of South Africans elected the late Nelson Mandela into office, marking the end of apartheid. and establishing the rainbow country as a democracy.
In February 2018, current President and ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa was elected, following former president Jacob Zuma’s resignation. Ramaphosa was reelected for a second term by the ANC in 2022.
The BBC reports that with results from more than 50% of voting districts counted so far, the ANC is leading with 42%, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 23%. Similarly, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) of former president Zuma has received nearly 11% of the vote and the Economic Freedom Fighters party, nearly 10%.
It was reported that the online system streaming the election results crashed on Friday morning, leaving poll screens showing zero results. The South African electoral commission has since apologised for the issue and said it was working to restore the service.
“The results system is still operational and local offices continue to capture results,” it stated. The final results of the elections are expected over the weekend.
The country’s electoral commission projected a 70% voter turnout in this election, up from the 66% in the last national election in 2019.
