In South Africa, facing the possibility of no clear winner, the real political action may begin after the final results of this week's election are announced.
Results on Thursday showed the ruling African National Congress had received well below 50 percent of the national vote as counting continued, confirming pre-election analysis that the party that has dominated South African politics for three decades could lose its majority within days.
Some opposition parties will likely declare this a victory for change, but it is unclear how change will ultimately be achieved if the ANC loses its majority.
Partial results show the ANC still has a large lead over the next-place candidate. In its worst-case scenario, it would handily win the most votes. But if it doesn't win a majority, it will likely need a coalition to form a government and choose a president as its first post-election task.
There is little indication as to who the ANC will partner with, meaning complications could arise if it remains below 50% just as South Africa anticipates a breakthrough moment.
Electing the President Electing the head of state is the first priority after the elections. South Africans vote for political parties in national elections, but they do not vote directly for the president. The election determines how many seats each political party gets in Parliament. The president is elected by parliament after the elections.
The ANC has held an overwhelming majority in the 400-seat parliament since apartheid ended in 1994, so the process of electing the party's leader as president was straightforward.
That could be very different this year. Without a majority of MPs, the ANC must find a party to vote with in parliament to reach the magic number of 201 needed to re-elect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final five-year term.
Forming a government Again, if the ANC does not have a majority in Parliament, an agreement or coalition will be needed to even form a government. This has long-term implications, as the coalition effectively determines whether laws are passed and the government is in a position to implement policies.
Without agreement, the ANC cannot govern, or in this case, co-govern.
What's next A timeline has been set out for what needs to be done and when. Results of the nationwide election must be announced within seven days of polls closing on Wednesday. The Independent Electoral Commission, which runs the elections, has said results are due to be announced by Sunday, well within the deadline.
Once the election results are announced, the new parliament will meet for the first time within 14 days to elect a president.
The period between the announcement of the election results and the convening of parliament is expected to be one of active negotiation between the political parties over what can be done – no one knows with whom the ANC will agree, as it has said very little about coalitions.
It will also depend on how far the ANC falls short of a majority, if the final results show they don't have it. If they only need a few percentage points to get over 50 votes, they may approach smaller parties, some of which have already said they will not work with the ANC.
If it's further away from a majority, it will probably have to negotiate with one of the two main opposition parties: the centrist Democratic Alliance, which is the second-largest party after the ANC, and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, which are the third-largest party, with very different ideologies that could take the ANC in very different directions.
“Everything is up in the air in this election,” said Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhausen. “We're heading for a coalition government.”
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
