ANC’s majority in jeopardy as early South African election results come in

In a surprising turn of events, early tallies from South Africa’s national election indicate that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) may be at risk of losing its parliamentary majority. Despite glitches in voting systems at some polling stations, the ANC under President Cyril Ramaphosa was leading with 42.8% of the votes in the early counting, followed by the opposition Democratic Alliance at 25.5% and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters at 8.3%.

The newly formed MK party, founded by former president Jacob Zuma, was also making waves with 7.8% of the votes. However, analysts caution that these early results may not be fully representative of the final outcome, as rural voting districts tend to favor the ANC while the DA’s support typically decreases.

A model developed by South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research predicts the ANC’s final share of the vote to be just under 42%, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points. A pre-election poll also suggested a similar outcome, with the ANC projected to receive 42.2% of the vote.

As the counting continues and more results come in, the political landscape in South Africa remains uncertain. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.