Opposition parties have hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, but the ANC remained the biggest party by some way. “The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent Electoral Commission that ran the election, but the ANC cannot pass 50 percent. But he will be weakened and could face calls to quit both from opposition parties and critics in the deeply divided ANC. On Friday, however, a top ANC official backed him to stay on as party leader, and analysts say he has no obvious successor.
