South African parties in high-stakes coalition talks after ANC’s worst election results

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African political parties began high-stakes coalition talks that will determine who will run the country’s cities after recent local elections saw the once-dominant African National Congress lose significant support.

The ANC remains the biggest party, but its share of the national vote fell to just over 30%, forcing it to seek coalitions with other parties to govern cities like Johannesburg and Tshwane, which includes the capital, Pretoria. It was the party’s worst performance in local elections.

The party’s top leadership, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, began a meeting Thursday to determine its approach to the talks and potential coalition partners. The outcome of the meeting will be announced Saturday.

The coalition talks have brought together some of the country’s biggest political rivals to discuss forming local governments.

According to the official results, no party won an outright majority in about 65% of the municipal councils, including those in Johannesburg, Tshwane and the city of Ekurhuleni.

Despite the decline, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party remains an organization “with clear policy positions and a program that can improve the lives of all South Africans.”

At the national level, the ANC is currently in a unity government with the second-largest party, the Democratic Alliance, after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the 2024 elections.

The two parties have stark ideological differences and disagree on most policy issues including land redistribution, affirmative action and the economy.

In cities like Johannesburg and Tshwane, the DA won significantly more votes than the ANC.

The ANC this week started talks with ActionSA, its bitter rival that was formed as a breakaway party from the DA, led by its former member Herman Mashaba, who is also a former mayor of Johannesburg.

In Tshwane, ActionSA and the DA were expected to negotiate a coalition that does not include the ANC.

Key negotiations are also expected in the city of eThekwini, where the MK Party led by former President Jacob Zuma won the most votes at just over 38%, followed by the DA and the ANC with 25% and 16%, respectively.

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