ANC to lead S. Africa govt with diminished majority
South Africa's ruling ANC was Saturday declared winner of general elections, handing it a sixth straight term in the post-apartheid era on what was nevertheless its worst electoral showing.
The African National Congress (ANC) won a healthy majority with 57.5 per cent — or 230 out of the 400 parliamentary seats.
But that still represented 19 seats fewer than in 2014.
The official results, as declared by the electoral commission, were therefore the ANC's poorest ever showing in its long electoral run, which started in 1994, when Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the first multi-racial polls.
The party has been battling corruption scandals, sluggish economic growth, record unemployment and poverty — issues its leader Cyril Ramaphosa, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, has promised to tackle.
But its poor electoral showing could hamper efforts to revive the flagging economy and fight corruption.
Businessman Ramaphosa, 66, took over last year when the ANC forced then-president Jacob Zuma to resign after nine years dominated by graft allegations and economic decline.
The ANC's closest rival, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), trailed at a distant 20.7 per cent or 84 seats.
The radical left Economic Freedom Fighters, founded six years ago by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, came third with 10.79 per cent.
But that was four percentage points more than in 2014 and means a jump from 25 to and 44 parliamentary seats.
After the official declaration of the results in Pretoria, Ramaphosa said: “Our people have spoken - and they have done so clearly and emphatically.
“They voted for a united South Africa, they voted for a more equal society, free from hunger and want.
"We can declare with certainty that democracy has emerged victorious.” — AFP