ANC leadership to meet on Friday amid dismal election results

Deputy secretary-general of the African National Congress (ANC), Nomvula Mokonyane, says the ruling party leadership is meeting on Friday.

This comes as the reality of the ruling party losing the majority vote sinks in.

With 63.71% of the votes counted, the ruling party was at 41.86%. This is followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 22.88% and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK party) with 11.80%.

The MK party has overtaken the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which is on 9.5%.

In the Northern Cape, the party was sitting at 49.27%, with 99.86% votes counted. The DA came second with 21.25% of the votes, followed by the EFF with 12.87%.

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The Patriotic Alliance even made inroads with 8.37% support for the time since its inception.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC is likely going to be an official opposition. This as the MK party is sitting at 44.13%, which is more than double the ruling party’s support of 18.82%.

The ANC is also on shaky ground in Gauteng. With 53.31% of results in, the ANC is at 35.13%, followed by the EFF at 12.34%.

ANC meeting

Amid speculation around President Cyril Ramaphosa’s future in the ANC and talks of coalitions, Mokonyane said the leadership would meet today.

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“There will be a meeting of the ANC leadership today. There will be a consultation out of the meeting of the national officials. By tomorrow afternoon there will be an interaction with the nation,” she told the media at the National Results Operation Centre on Friday.

On coalitions, Mokonyane said it was the party’s structures that were responsible for decisions on coalitions, not officials at the ROC.

“We don’t toy around with coalitions, we reflect on what is good for the country and respect the will of voters. That’s why we went into these elections with the full intention of absolute victory for the ANC,” she said.

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“Decisions of the ANC on the future of relationships stem from the constitutional structures of the ANC. They don’t stem from here at the floor of the results centre.”