South Africa’s newly elected parliament is set to convene on Friday, June 14th, according to the chief justice’s office. This adds pressure to ongoing negotiations between political parties, none of which secured a governing majority in the recent election.
The African National Congress (ANC), in power since the end of apartheid, fell short of a majority in the May 29th vote. They’re now in talks with a diverse range of potential partners, spanning the political spectrum from Marxists to free-marketeers.
The ANC has proposed a broad-based government of national unity, but some smaller parties have already clashed, making it unclear if a deal will be reached before Friday, or who might be included. Analysts warn of the ongoing uncertainty.
“It’s completely up in the air,” said Ebrahim Fakir of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa. “There are too many variables and competing demands from the parties.”
Voters punished the ANC for high unemployment, poverty, crime, power outages, and corruption. Despite this, they remain the largest party with 159 seats in the 400-seat parliament. Their closest rivals are the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) with 87 seats, the populist uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) led by former President Zuma (58 seats), and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 39 seats.
The constitution mandates that parliament convene within two weeks of election results. The first session, held in Cape Town, will see Chief Justice Raymond Zondo swear in new and returning members of the National Assembly. He will then oversee the election of the speaker and deputy speaker, followed by the president’s election by lawmakers.
