South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has secured nearly 40 percent of the vote, after counting 99 percent of the votes in the country’s general elections, according to the results of the Independent Electoral Commission.
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Despite this percent, it is an historical defeat to the compared to the parliamentary majority it had held since the famed all-races vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela, the first black president in that country.
Secondly, John Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance (AD, liberal center-right) stands with 21.72% of the vote, which would slightly improve the result of 2019, when it obtained 20.77%.
Third place is uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party), the new party of former President Jacob Zuma (2009-2018), with 14.80%, whose appearance has significantly influenced the division of the vote to the ANC.
Nearly 28 million South Africans were called to the polls last Wednesday. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) puts the provisional turnout rate at 58.59%, down from 66% in 2019 despite palpable enthusiasm in the population.
South Africa voted among seventy parties and eleven independent candidates to the 400-member National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament), which in turn must elect the president. It also elected the authorities of the country’s nine provinces.