ANC sees dip in support as South Africa counts votes from general election

Ruling party on course to retain power with a reduced majority as main rivals make gains

Large electronic screens display current voting results during the count at the Independent Electoral Commission national results center in Pretoria, South Africa on Thursday, May 9, 2019. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is in danger of losing its majority in the central Gauteng province, projections showed. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on Thursday appeared on track to retain its majority in parliament but with fewer seats than in 2014.

With ballots counted in nearly half of the 22,295 voting districts, the ANC was ahead with 56.66 of the vote. The ruling party's closest rival, the Democratic Alliance (DA), was trailing with 23.37 per cent, followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party with 9.32 per cent.

Few of the other 45 parties that took part in Wednesday's election were expected to win enough votes to enter the 400-seat National Assembly under South Africa's proportional representation system.

The final results are expected to be certified on Saturday. The party that wins the most seats in parliament selects the country's president, who will be sworn in on May 25.

The result will provide a gauge of President Cyril Ramaphosa's efforts to revive the image of the ANC and implement reforms. The party has dominated South African politics since the end of apartheid in 1994 but its support has been in decline, taking just 54 per cent of the vote in 2016 municipal elections compared with 62 per cent in 2014's national vote.

Mr Ramaphosa, 66, took over last year after the ANC forced then-president Jacob Zuma to resign after nine years dominated by corruption allegations and economic problems. He has been facing resistance to his reform agenda, especially from Mr Zuma's allies who still occupy several high-ranking positions in the party and government.

The ANC faces deepening public anger over its failure to tackle poverty and inequality in the post-apartheid era.

"We have given them 25 years but the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer," Anmareth Preece, 28, a teacher from Coligny in North West province, told Agence France-Presse. "We need a government that governs for the people, not for themselves."

The economy grew just 0.8 per cent in 2018 and unemployment hovers around 27 per cent overall and rising to more than 50 per cent among the youth.

"The ANC has taken people for granted. There is some arrogance which has crept in," said Mandla Booi, 45, a voter in Port Elizabeth on the south coast.

Only 65 per cent of the nearly 27 million registered voters cast ballots in Wednesday's elections, which were also held for nine provincial legislatures.

The centrist Democratic Alliance is hoping to shed its image as a white, middle-class party under its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, who took charge in 2015. However, the DA was forecast to improve only marginally on the 22 per cent of the vote it won in 2014.

The radical-left EFF, which appeals mainly to young voters and the poor, had been expected to nearly double the 6.3 per cent vote share it received five years ago. The party was founded six years ago by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema