Cyril Ramaphosa was set on Friday to be re-elected as South Africa’s president, having brokered a deal with the opposition for a government of national unity after his African National Congress’s worst election result since the end of apartheid.
A skilful negotiator, Ramaphosa clinched a deal with the opposition, the white-led Democratic Alliance, and at least two smaller parties, according to DA and other party officials, as the National Assembly held its first sitting since the election and prepared to elect a head of state.
That will allow him to remain president and survive – at least for now – the huge drop in support for the ANC when it lost its parliamentary majority in the May 29 election.
But Ramaphosa, 71, emerged weakened from the vote, and some political analysts have questioned whether he can serve a full second five-year term.
The ANC won just 40 per cent of the vote, meaning Nelson Mandela’s legacy liberation movement has had to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with rival parties for the first time in 30 years.
As parliament convened on Friday, the DA said it had signed a deal for a unity government with the ANC.
The socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party and the right-wing Patriotic Alliance had previously confirmed that they would also join the coalition.
Details of the deal were still unclear, aside from that the DA would receive the position of deputy speaker of parliament.
