Cape Town. Despite the historic loss of power by the ruling ANC party, Ramaphosa was confirmed in office. Now he has a gigantic task ahead of him: forming a stable government.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been confirmed for a second term by the country’s newly elected parliament. The 71-year-old received 283 of the 339 votes, court president Raymond Zondo announced.
Ramaphosa, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), will now form a new government. The ANC says it intends to cooperate with all parties represented in parliament. The so-called Government of National Unity is a kind of grand coalition, but without any fixed coalition agreements. A declaration of intent was signed on Friday with the largest opposition party to date, the Democratic Alliance.
The ANC, the party of former anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela, suffered a huge loss of power in the May 29 general elections. This means that the party of former anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela will no longer govern the continent’s strongest economy alone and will have to form a coalition for the first time in 30 years. The ANC has 159 of the 400 parliamentary seats, the Democratic Alliance is represented in parliament with 87 representatives.
John Steenhuisen, a senior DA politician, said in Cape Town that a “new chapter” was beginning in South Africa after two weeks of intense negotiations. The signed declaration of intent stated that such a coalition, which included other parties, was in the interests of all South Africans.
However, not all ANC representatives are happy to work with the economically liberal Democratic Alliance, which, in the eyes of some ANC supporters, mainly represents the interests of the white minority in South Africa.
Negotiations between the ANC and other parties represented in Parliament are still ongoing. Political commentators have warned that a national unity government could lead to an unstable and inefficient government.
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Reforms are urgently needed in the country of 61 million people. For years, South Africa has suffered from a struggling economy, mass unemployment, deep corruption, struggling state-owned enterprises and a crumbling health and education sector.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240614-99-403300/5 (dpa)