South African vote tallying enters final stages with ANC on 40%Vote tallying in this week’s South African parliamentary election entered the final stages on Saturday, with the governing African National Congress (ANC) set to fall well short of a majority for the first time in 30 years of democracy. With results in from over 97% of the more than 23,000 polling stations in Wednesday’s vote, the ANC stood at 40.11%, a precipitous drop from the 57.50% it secured at the last national election in 2019. Political parties’ share of the vote will determine the number of seats they get in the National Assembly, which then elects the next president. That could still be the ANC’s leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the former liberation movement will remain the biggest party. But Ramaphosa will be badly weakened and is likely to face calls to quit from opposition parties and critics in the deeply-divided ANC.

Source: Daily Nation June 01, 2024 19:10 UTC