South Africa’s ANC suffers setback in local elections

With 99 percent of votes counted, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party wins 31 percent nationally.Published On 8 Nov 20268 Nov 2026South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) party faces a major setback after last week’s municipal elections, leaving it in a weak position in coalition talks to form city governments.With 99 percent of the votes counted on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC had 31 percent nationally against 25 percent for its main rival, the Democratic Alliance (DA).Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Former Palestinian detainees at mercy of Israel amid perpetual detentionlist 2 of 3Saudi Aramco building in Riyadh damaged in ‘attempted’ attacklist 3 of 3Ukraine’s position ‘may become stronger’ as US Democrats regain some powerend of listThat represents a drop of roughly 14 percentage points from its 2021 local elections performance.Former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party won about 10 percent of votes, putting it in third place, while the rest of the ballots were split between hundreds of smaller parties.Final results are expected to be announced at 6pm (16:00 GMT) on Sunday.While still the largest party in South Africa, the ANC’s support ha...