Simon Nare
It’s official! The 2024 National and Provincial Elections have not produced a majority winner and therefore, there is talk that the unique position the ANC finds itself in – the first in 30 years of South Africa’s majority rule – paves the way for coalition talks or what is called the Government of National Unity.
When announcing the election results at the Results Operating Centre in Midrand on Sunday, the IEC’s Mosotho Moepya said the ANC had secured the most votes but fell short of getting a clear majority.
This means the ANC won’t be sitting with a clear majority in Parliament as it did before the elections. With the current results this means that the ANC will have 159 seats in the National Assembly, the DA 87, MK 58 followed by the EFF with 39 seats, the IFP with 17 seats and the PA with 9 seats as the sixth largest party in South Africa.
The results have set in motion serious coalition talks for the political parties to find each other and ensure that a government is established within 14 days after the announcement.
There have been several permutations and suggestions from different political analysts of who the ANC should go to bed with. It seems some believe an obvious choice would be the DA while some of the left leaning ANC supporters prefer an ANC, IFP, MK and EFF alliance because of some of the shared values and manifesto.
Even though the formal results were announced by Moepya in the closing ceremony addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, counting according to the IEC website was continuing with 99.95% votes counted and the ANC standing at 40.28% followed by the DA at 21.80%, MK at 14.59%, EFF at 9.52%, IFP at 3.85% and PA at 2.05%.
Moepya described the 2024 elections as the most difficult to run so far.
“Our journey was not without its challenges. It sometimes entailed concerted significant attacks on the members and key staff of the commission, attempts to undermine the credibility of this institution, relentless and targeted social media attacks, misinformation campaigns, unwarranted allegations, and sometimes, what appeared to be acts of intimidation.
“As an institution with enormous amount of responsibility to the nation we all love and proudly call home, we persevered and remained focused on the challenges before us,” he said.
Moepya said at all material times the commission understood the sanctity of the democratic process transcended individual interests or personal grievances.
The commission together with staff and leaders remained steadfast in the country’s constitutional mandate and rose, above the distractions, to ensure that the will of the people was accurately reflected in the results, he said.
“In any election, the most anxious moments come with the declaration of the election results. South Africa’s nascent democracy has experienced one of the most peaceful electoral periods in recent times. For this, we thank all her people,” Moepya said as he unveiled the results.
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