PRETORIA [South Africa]: The South African parliament re-elected the African National Congress's President Cyril Ramaphosa as president on Friday during the first sitting of the National Assembly of the 7th Parliament.
In a post on X, the ruling party of South Africa, the ANC, disclosed that Ramaphosa has been re -elected as president. "Honourable Matamela @CyrilRamaphosa has been re-elected as the President of the Republic of South Africa during the First Sitting of the National Assembly of the 7th Democratic Parliament tonight at Cape Town International Convention Centre," the ANC said on X.
South Africa's African National Congress party said Thursday that it has a broad agreement with the main opposition and other parties to form a coalition government and end a political deadlock after the ANC lost its 30-year majority in an election two weeks ago, local news outlet reported. People in South Africa voted on May 29.
Three hundred and thirty-nine ballot papers were issued and counted, with 12 invalid ballots. Ramaphosa received 283 votes against Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, who received 44 votes, a South African news agency reported. African National Congress Member of Parliament (MP), Mdumiseni Ntuli, nominated Ramaphosa for the position of President, and was seconded by Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader and MP, Velenkosini Hlabisa, during a process that was presided over by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
According to the South Africa news agency, this will be his second term as the leader of South Africa's government. Ramaphosa was sworn in as the President of South Africa for the first time on February 15, 2018 and again on May 22, 2019 after the 2019 elections. The ANC has been the dominant political force since the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994.
The country's largest opposition party is the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) led by John Steenhusien that was formed by merging the Democratic party and the New National party.