South Africa's ANC party gained 40.23% voter support after processing ballots from 98.46% of polling stations, according to the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa as of noon on June 1, local time.
According to its data, the Democratic Alliance (DA) party is in second place — 21.66%. It is followed by the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, whose leader is former South African President Jacob Zuma, with 14.73%, and the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 9.45%. The latter is led by Julius Malema.
However, the MK said that it doesn't recognize the results of the vote and demands a recount of the ballots.
“We are receiving a lot of complaints and information from our party agents [that] results […] are not in line with what has been presented and recorded by our party agents,” said the head of the MK election commission, Muzi Ntshingila. “We object to them. We are calling for immediate manual counting.”
For the first time in South Africa's general election history, which began after the collapse of the apartheid system 30 years ago, ANC support fell below 50%. As the local SABC radio station noted, South Africa has entered a new era when the ANC is forced to look for political partners to create a ruling majority.
In the previous parliamentary elections in 2019, the ANC received 57.5% of the votes.
The leadership of the DA party has already stated that it does not exclude its entry into the ruling coalition. In turn, the deputy leader of the EFF, Floyd Shivambu, said that his party would join the government.
A total of 70 parties and a group of independent candidates took part in the elections. Based on their results, a new composition of the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) and legislative assemblies of all nine provinces will be formed.
The National Assembly, within 14 days after the announcement of the election results, must elect a new president of the republic from among its members. To do this, the candidate must receive at least half plus one vote of the deputies, the total number of which reaches 400. The ANC nominated the current head of state and its leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, as a candidate for the post of president.
On Wednesday, Alexander Asafov, a Russian observer in the republic, told Sputnik Africa that elections in South Africa were held in accordance with national laws and regulations, noting the large number of people who wanted to cast their ballots.
However, another Russian observer, Vladimir Rogov, claimed Western interference in the elections. He explained that the West wants to install leaders who will serve them in positions of authority in the nation to breach the country's sovereignty, drive it away from BRICS to the point of leaving the group, and obtain access to natural resources to plunder them.