South Africa’s parliament on Friday re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s president following a landmark coalition deal between the governing African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Zulu nationalists of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Ramaphosa was re-elected him by 283 votes to 44.
Coalition has 263 seats in parliament
Between the three parties that will now form a Government of National Unity (GNU), they have 263 members of parliament.
| Rank | Party | Regional | National | Seats |
| 1 | ANC | 86 | 73 | 159 |
| 2 | DA | 45 | 42 | 87 |
| 3 | IFP | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| TOTAL | 140 | 123 | 263 |
In his victory speech, 71-year-old Ramaphosa hailed the new coalition, and said voters expected the leaders to “to act and to work together for the good of everyone in our country”.
The agreement was hashed out on a day of high political drama, which saw the National Assembly sitting late into the evening for votes to confirm who would hold power in the new administration.
Earlier, a deal was struck following weeks of speculation about whom the ANC would partner with after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years in last month’s elections.
The ANC received 12 698 759 votes (40.18%), while the DA got 6 961 361 votes (21.81%).
The IFP received 1 307 088 (3.85%) of the votes.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called the coalition deal a “remarkable step”.
It meant Ramaphosa – who replaced Jacob Zuma as both president of the country and ANC leader following a bitter power struggle in 2018 – was able to retain power.
The next step is for Ramaphosa to allocate cabinet positions, which will include members of the DA.
His inauguration will take place on Wednesday, 19 June in Pretoria.
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