South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (71 years old) won a second term on Friday evening 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 his victory 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 “centered around the center” between the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party.
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, while the African National Congress still holds the majority by obtaining 159 seats out of 400 in Parliament.
For the first time since the establishment of democracy in 1994, the ruling African National Congress party, led by Ramaphosa, lost its parliamentary majority and obtained 40% of the votes, in its worst electoral performance ever, and now needs the support of other parties to govern.
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.
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