South Africa’s parliament has re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s president following a historic coalition deal between the governing African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties.
The new government comprises Ramaphosa’s ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is the main opposition, and smaller parties.
The ANC lost its controlling majority in last month’s election after ruling for 30 years since the end of apartheid.
Out of 400 seats in the national assembly, the ruling party was only able to secure 159, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
The DA had 87 seats, while the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, backed by former President Jacob Zuma, won 58.
After the election, Ramaphosa said it was clear that citizens expect their leaders to “work together” to meet their needs.
Following two weeks of intensive talks with opposition parties, the decision to re-elect Ramaphosa was reached on Friday.
John Steenhuisen, leader of the DA, said he was looking forward to working on “serving the people of the country and building a better future.”
“I think we get an opportunity today to write a new chapter for South Africa, and with that chapter, I think we can make the best chapter ever. No party has a majority. We are required to work together, and we are going to do it,” he added.
Ramaphosa is expected to include members of the other parties in his cabinet.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has extended his warm congratulations to His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, on his re-election.
The President also congratulates the people of South Africa on the peaceful and successful conduct of the general election.
While wishing President Ramaphosa a successful term in office, President Tinubu calls for the strengthening of bilateral ties between Nigeria and South Africa as strategic partners in Africa for the overall advancement of the continent.
