For the first time in 30 years, South African lawmakers will elect a president on Friday with the outcome not a mere formality.
Cyril Ramaphosa is seeking a second term as leader of
Africa’s most industrialized economy but his African National Congress party
has been weakened after losing its long-held majority in an election last month
and he will need the support of other parties if he is to return as president.
The ANC is hoping that a general coalition agreement with
others — particularly the main opposition Democratic Alliance — will hold and
they will back Ramaphosa’s reelection. The ANC needs lawmakers from parties
that were once its main political foes to now vote for Ramaphosa and continue
the ANC’s three-decade hold on the presidency.
The ANC announced late Thursday night that it had a
coalition agreement in principle with the DA and other smaller parties, but ANC
Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said the final details of the agreement were
still being worked out. Crucially, he did not say there was an agreement among
those coalition partners for their lawmakers to vote for Ramaphosa in
Parliament, even if he said that’s what the ANC hoped would happen.
The DA, the second largest party in Parliament behind the
ANC and which has a potentially decisive number of lawmakers, said talks on the
exact details had continued through the night and into early Friday and there
was no signed agreement just hours before Parliament was due to convene at 10
a.m. local time.
The swearing-in ceremony for Members of Parliament (MPs) has commenced in the National Assembly, presided over by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. Notably, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile have taken their oaths of office pic.twitter.com/zCh5I2FnYX
— News Live SA (@newslivesa) June 14, 2024
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