Cyril Ramaphosa re-elected South African president after ANC, DA reach deal

South Africa’s parliament on Friday 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.

In his victory speech, the president hailed the new coalition and urged the party members to prioritise South Africans.

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 that chapter I think we can make the best chapter ever. No party has got a majority. We are required to work together and we are re going to do it,” he added.

Ramaphosa is expected to include members of the other parties in his cabinet.