Willem's Planet

Welp.
With 96% of the votes counted in South Africa’s national election of Wednesday, it is clear that the predictions (of the demise of the African National Congress majority) had become true, and then some.
The party that had once commanded 70% of the electorate’s support (in 2004), and still got 57% of the national vote in 2019, will now scrape in with barely 40% of the vote.
Yes, they still have the biggest share, but for the first time since South Africa became a full democracy in 1994, there will be a coalition government.

It was election day in South Africa, and the vote counting is under way. Out of a population of 62 million, a record 27.8 million voters have been registered.

The main party leaders are (from bbc.com/news):
African National Congress/ANC: Cyril Ramaphosa – union leader, mine boss, president;
Democratic Alliance/ DA: John Steenhuisen – the man vowing to ‘rescue’ South Africa;
Economic Freedom Front/ EFF: Julius Malema – the radical agenda-setter;
uMkhonto weSizwe/ MK: Jacob Zuma – ex-president, spent time in jail, the political wildcard.

Citizens vote for political parties, though— and then the national assembly of 400 representatives, based on the outcome of the national election, will vote for a president. A simple majority of 201 suffices.

The Big Question for 2024: will national support for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC party fall below 50% for the first time since 1994?

We will soon know. (The final results should be available by Sunday, or earlier).  If that is the case, the ANC will have to form a coalition with other parties to choose a president and form a governing majority. I cannot see that even in this scenario, anyone other than Ramaphosa will become president. But hopefully the ANC’s majority power (that they had abused ever after Mandela had left office in 1999), will be reined in.