South African local election results signal new era in South African politics, as elections becoming more competitive and major cities increasingly likely to be governed by informal coalitions of two or more parties
South African voters have delivered a severe blow to the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress, pushing it below the 50-per-cent mark in local elections this week for the first time in any nationwide vote since apartheid.
For the ANC, disaster was averted in Monday’s election only because the main opposition parties failed to make any significant gains. The biggest opposition party, the liberal Democratic Alliance, won about 22 per cent of the vote, while the left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters were at 10 per cent. The new realities could be seen in Johannesburg, the biggest city in South Africa and one of the biggest on the African continent. The ANC received just 34 per cent of the vote in Johannesburg, the DA won 25 per cent and the new party, Action SA, finished a strong third with 17 per cent.
A survey by Ipsos, a market research company, found that almost half of South African voters were dissatisfied with the party that they had supported in the last municipal election in 2016. It was a clear sign of the rising turmoil and unpredictability in the country’s political climate. Another key factor is a widening factional split within the ANC, where Mr. Ramaphosa is facing an open challenge from many supporters of former president Jacob Zuma. The division in the party may have dampened the turnout and deterred some of Mr. Zuma’s loyalists from voting for the ANC, even though he officially endorsed the party during the campaign.
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