South Africa election poised to end three decades of ANC dominance

South Africa is poised to break three decades of dominance of the party that liberated it from apartheid, as voters, frustrated by joblessness, inequality, and power shortages, reduced the African National Congress's (ANC) share of the vote to 40%.

A weakened mandate for Nelson Mandela's legacy party, dropping from 57.5% in the 2019 election to 40%, meansthe ANC must share power with a rival to maintain form a government—an unprecedented scenario.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Vote tallying from Wednesday's poll was entering the final stages on Saturday morning, with results in from 98% of polling stations giving the ANC 40.15% vote share.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.71% and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, grabbed 14.76%.

It may be noted here, the ANC has won every previous national election by a landslide since the historic 1994 vote that ended white minority rule, but over the last decade its support has declined as the economy stagnated, unemployment rose and roads and power stations got worse.

The share of votes of Political partiesdecides their seats in the National Assembly, which elects the nation's president. Investors in Africa's most industrialised economy will hope the uncertain picture can quickly become clear.

President Cyril Ramaphosa could theoretically retain his position, as the former liberation movement is projected to secure roughly twice as many votes as the next party. However, he will be significantly weakened and may face demands to step down from both opposition parties and critics within the deeply divided ANC.

However, on Friday (May 31) a top ANC official backed him to stay on as party leader, and analysts say he has no obvious successor.

A deal to keep the ANC in the presidency could involve opposition backing in exchange either for cabinet posts or for more control of parliament, perhaps even the speaker.

The election commission will announce the final results on Sunday (June 2).

(With inputs from agencies)