Premiers for all the provinces except KwaZulu-Natal have been elected.
In Gauteng, African National Congress (ANC) provincial secretary Thembinkosi Nciza says they engaged all parties in the province during negotiations which have seen Panyaza Lesufi re-elected unopposed as Premier.
“Look, it has not been an easy journey, I must say. Negotiations in their nature are not easy. The people of South Africa and the people of Gauteng, took a decision that there would not be a party which is a majority party. That’s the first issue.”
“The decision of the voters must be respected. So, when we started engaging all parties, it’s not like we were doing a fishing parade. That’s what the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC would have said, go and engage all parties, which we agree with. And we did that very well, except two parties would have said we’re not interested,” adds Nciza.
“Well, there are two case scenarios here. The first one would be they will please the markets and bolster the investor confidence, which is a coalition with the Democratic Alliance. We do know that the Democratic Alliance (DA), its policies and its posture mainly resonates with the Western markets and its pro-business. So to a certain extent, if the ANC would partner with the Democratic Alliance going towards the formation of the new government, that would bring to a certain extent confidence on the economy.”
2024 Elections | We must be ready for coalitions: Lufhuno Nevondwe:
Meanwhile, Political analyst, Tshamano Makhadi says after tonight, the ANC will potentially enter into coalition talks with the DA, EFF or former President Jacob Zuma’s MK party.
“At this point, they are saying they are prepared to speak to anyone. I mean, I listened to the Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula this morning. One of the things they say is that they will not speak to anyone who wants the president of the ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa, to step down. But if you look at those numbers, whether you’re looking at a DA, EFF, MK, I do think that the ANC can confidently have a discussion with any of the three. Out of those three, I do think that they can make a coalition.”
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Prof. Pravesh Debba says South Africa’s voter turnout has been in constant decline since the 2009 election.
The voter turnout for the 2024 national election stands at 58% which the CSIR accurately predicted.
With just over 97% of the national results being released, the African National Congress (ANC) is maintaining a lead of just over 40%, indicating that the party has lost its majority.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has garnered nearly 22% of the votes thus far and the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party is just under 15% of the votes.
Debba says, “We did predictions for the voter turnout early on Thursday. We had made a prediction that our voter turnout would be around 58% and we were on the mark so you know we’d be quite pleased with that. If you look at 2009 the voter turnout was around 75% in 2014 it had dropped to 72% in 2019 it had dropped quite a bit by to 65%.”
Currently, more than 96% of the national votes have been declared; the ANC remains in pole position with just over 40%; the DA is close to 22%; and the former President Jacob Zuma’s MK party is at just under 15% of the votes.
The MK Party has set a new record for the largest number of votes achieved in a general election by a new political party in South Africa.
The IEC says it will announce the final results on Sunday. Legally, it has until Wednesday to announce the results and seat allocations, seven days after the election.
Coalition talks have a maximum of 14 days to conclude because, according to parliamentary law, that’s the time within which the National Assembly must sit.
If the chief justice does not call a National Assembly sitting within two weeks, the President must then call a new election to take place within 90 days.
The first order of business at the National Assembly sitting is the swearing-in of the MP’s followed by the election of the Speaker, and then the Deputy Speaker.
The president is nominated and voted for, generally after lunch on day one.
2024 Elections | Observers give the polls the thumbs up:
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has comfortably scooped 75.3% of the international vote in South Africa’s general election.
This as 100% of the international votes have been captured.
58 802 of South Africans living abroad were registered to vote in this election. However, only 67% turned out to vote, in their respective countries. This translates to 39 116 votes of which 32 were spoilt ballots.
The highest number of votes came from South Africans living in the United Kingdom.
2024 Elections | ‘DA not ruling anything out, but 1st loyalty is to multiparty charter’: Steenhuisen
“58 802 of South Africans living abroad were registered to vote this election. However, only 67% turned out to vote, in their respective countries. This translates to 39 116 votes of which 32 were spoilt ballots. The highest number of votes came from South Africans living in the United Kingdom.”
2024 Elections | ‘DA not ruling anything out, but 1st loyalty is to multiparty charter’: Steenhuisen
Meanwhile, vote counting has passed the 90% mark nationally, though only one province, the Northern Cape, has finished its official count and verification.
Out of 21 000 stations that have confirmed their ballot counts, the ANC leads with 41.03% of the national vote – a significant drop of 16% from 2019.
In the Northern Cape, the ANC won nearly 50% of the vote.
Despite the overall results, the ANC will remain the leading party in seven out of nine provinces. However, in provinces like Gauteng, they will need to form coalitions to achieve a governing majority.
MK Party is set to be the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal with 45.5%, while the DA will retain control of the Western Cape with just over 53%, with counting almost complete.
2024 Elections | IEC has 7 days to announce results:
