On Friday evening, South African representatives elected Cyril Ramaphosa (71 years old) as President of the Republic for a second term with a majority of 283 votes from the National Assembly that emerged from the recent legislative elections, which consists of 400 representatives.
Judge Raymond Zondo, who presided over the election session, said, “His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa is declared the duly elected president,” after he won by a wide margin over the candidate of the radical leftist EFF party, Julius Malema, who received 44 votes.
The South African Parliament, which emerged from the legislative elections that took place at the end of May, met on Friday to elect a head of state before forming a first-of-its-kind coalition government “revolving around the middle” between the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Ramaphosa on his re-election. China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi “sent a message congratulating Ramaphosa on his re-election as president of South Africa.”
It was expected that Parliament would re-elect Ramaphosa, even though his party, the African National Congress, which has been in power for thirty years, lost the absolute majority in the National Assembly.
The African National Congress still holds a majority, winning 159 seats out of 400 in Parliament.
The center-right Democratic Alliance, which won 87 seats, announced that it had reached an agreement to form a government with the African National Congress.
Its leader, John Steenhuisen, said on the sidelines of the first session of the National Assembly that he “reached an agreement on a declaration of intent to form a national unity government” that includes the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, as well as the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Party.
Steenhuisen stressed, “We will support Cyril Ramaphosa during his election to the presidency.”
Fikile Mbalula, Secretary-General of the African National Congress, said during a press conference on the eve of the first session of the new parliament, “We have reached a common agreement on the necessity of working together.”
He explained that the coalition “revolves around the center” after the left-wing parties refused to join it, and would allow the formation of a national unity government.
According to Mbalula, the new coalition includes the following parties: the Democratic Alliance (centre-right), the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Party, the United Democratic Movement (centre-left), and the white nationalist FF Plus party.
For the first time since the establishment of democracy in 1994, Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority and received 40 percent of the vote.
In South Africa, the President of the Republic is elected from among the members of Parliament in a secret ballot. After his election, the president appoints his cabinet ministers.