South Africa’s parliament has re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s president, following a historic coalition deal between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties.
The new national unity government combines Ramaphosa’s ANC, the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) and smaller parties.
The deal was reached on a day of political drama, with South Africa’s National Assembly meeting until late Friday evening for votes to confirm who will hold power in the new government.
A deal was previously struck after weeks of speculation over who the ANC would work with after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years in last month’s elections.
It received 40% of the vote, while the DA came second with 22%.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called the coalition agreement a “remarkable step”.
It meant Ramaphosa – who replaced Jacob Zuma as both president and ANC leader after a bitter power struggle in 2018 – could retain power.
The ANC had always won more than 50% of the vote since the first democratic elections in 1994, in which Nelson Mandela became president.
However, support for the party has fallen significantly due to anger over high levels of corruption, unemployment and crime.
An alliance between the centre-right DA and the ANC is unprecedented, as the two parties have been rivals for decades.
Under Nelson Mandela, the ANC led the campaign against the racist apartheid system in 1994 and won the country’s first democratic elections.
Critics of the DA have accused the party of trying to protect the economic privileges the country’s white minority built up during apartheid – a charge the party denies.
John Steenhuisen, the leader of the DA, said in his address to lawmakers late on Friday in Cape Town: “Today is a historic day for our country, and I believe this is the beginning of a new chapter.”
The National Assembly also swore in a chairman of the ANC, while the post of deputy chairman went to the DA.
