The African National Congress (ANC) party is on course to lose its parliamentary majority in the South African election for the first time in three decades, despite receiving the highest number of votes.
With more than 99 per cent of votes counted, the ANC received just over 40 per cent in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority it had held since Nelson Mandela’s victory in 1994.
The result means that the ANC must share power with a rival in order to remain in power.
Gwede Mantashe, the ANC chair and current mines and energy minister, told reporters that the party would “talk to everybody and anybody”.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.63 per cent and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, managed to grab 14.71 per cent.
It is unclear whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will remain in power, but the ANC's Deputy Secretary-General Nomvula Mokonyane said he would not resign.
"Nobody is going to resign... Collectively, all of us, we still are confident that he (Ramaphosa) has to remain the president of the ANC," she told reporters at the results centre.
"The leadership of the ANC will meet, structures of the ANC will be consulted," she said.
The ANC has won every previous election since 1994 by a landslide, but over the last decade its support has fallen amid economic stagnation and rising unemployment.
South Africa’s official unemployment rate is 32 per cent, one of the highest in the world, and the poverty disproportionately affects Black people, who make up 80 per cent of the population.
Voters have also blamed the ANC for a failure in basic Government services that have left many without water, electricity or proper housing.
Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote and turnout is expected to be around 60 per cent, according to figures from the independent electoral commission.
By law the election commission has seven days to release full provisional results, but election officials have said they are planning for a Sunday announcement.
