South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party was on its way to losing its majority after winning roughly 41% of the votes, with 85% of the ballots counted, according to the National Electoral Commission (IEC).
If this score is confirmed in the final results over the weekend, the ANC would still be the biggest party but need parliamentary allies to retain power.
The preliminary results indicate huge losses for the ruling party of President Cyril Ramaphosa, which secured 57.5% of the vote in the last parliamentary elections held in 2019.
If the former party of anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela remains below the 50% mark, as is now considered likely, it will have to form a coalition.
In the past 30 years, since the beginning of democracy in 1994, the ANC has always won an absolute majority and ruled the continent's strongest economy alone.
The economically liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) – led by John Steenhuisen – has so far come in at 22.16%, while the party founded only six months ago by former president Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), is at 13.06%. The Marxist-influenced Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party follows with 9.41%.
According to the preliminary results, the ANC will also lose its absolute majority in the country's economically strongest province, Gauteng, which includes the capital, Pretoria and the economic center of Johannesburg.
The ANC is also expected to fall below 50% in KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma's home province.
The country's second-strongest province economically, the Western Cape, where Cape Town is located, has been governed for years by the DA. The partial results suggest it will retain its absolute majority there.
Members of 52 parties competed for the 400 seats in the National Assembly on May 29. The newly elected parliament must form a government and elect a president within 14 days of announcing the final results.
