South Africa’s ANC ends the local election count near 30 percent and faces coalition talks in the big cities

Counting in South Africa’s municipal elections is nearly finished, and the African National Congress (ANC) is heading for its weakest local result yet. DW reports that, with 98 percent of votes counted, the ANC has just over 30 percent. The Electoral Commission said the party has lost its majority in six of the eight metropolitan regions. Africanews, working from an earlier count of 90 percent, put the party at nearly 31 percent and said it was set to fall short of an outright majority in all eight big metros, including Johannesburg and Pretoria. The two reports differ on the metro numbers, so the final tally will settle that.

The ANC remains the largest party nationally. Africanews says the centre-right Democratic Alliance has about a quarter of the vote and has pulled ahead in several urban contests. In Johannesburg its mayoral candidate is 75-year-old Helen Zille. The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, is contesting a municipal election for the first time and is set to finish third, ahead of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters. Analysts told Africanews that MK has gained most from the splintering of the ANC vote.

DW says voters are angry about water and electricity shortages, high unemployment, crime and corruption. President Cyril Ramaphosa had not commented on the results by Saturday evening. In his weekly letter during the week, he admitted that municipal failures had hurt public trust. ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula told reporters the party cannot ask people to trust it only because of its history. He called the result very catastrophic for the movement, even though the ANC is still the largest party.

With few outright majorities, the next step is bargaining between parties to form coalition councils. Africanews notes that such deals have often been unstable and have left local governments consumed by infighting.