After elections
South Africa’s ANC seeks cross-party government
The African National Congress (ANC) lost its long-held majority in last week’s election, but remained the largest party. Photo
© Jerome Delay/AP/dpa
The loss of the majority was a bitter shock for the former party of anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela. Instead of a classic coalition, it now wants to take a different path.
In the parliamentary elections on May 29, the African National Congress (ANC) lost its absolute majority for the first time in 30 years. The party of former anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela only has 159 of the 400 seats in parliament and can no longer form a government on its own. The newly elected parliamentarians must form a government and elect a president by the end of next week.
A Government of National Unity is a kind of grand coalition with all parties that won seats in parliament in the election. Such a government would take into account and represent the wishes of all voters, ANC spokesman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri had previously explained. The ANC could thus avoid having to commit itself to a single coalition partner – such as the economically liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), which could alienate a large part of the ANC electorate. However, according to analysts, a Government of National Unity runs the risk of being neither stable nor capable of consensus.