South Africa's governing African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority of 30 years, in the country's most sweeping political shift since the end of the apartheid.
The six-months-old uMkhonto weSizwe party of the country's former president Jacob Zuma, established in December, clinched 14.6% of votes.
The result marks a meteoric fall for ANC from the 57.5% wrested during the previous election of 2019 — at the time, the party's weakest feat since South Africa's first democratic vote in 1994.
In 2022, the World Bank named South Africa "the most unequal country in the world."
"Top-of-mind issues for voters are unemployment, loadshedding, corruption, and crime, which have all taken a toll on the country's growth performance for years," analysts at Deloitte said at the start of the month.
Persons:
Jacob Zuma, Long
Organizations:
African National Congress, ANC, Democratic Alliance, Marxist Economic, Fighters, World Bank, Deloitte
Locations:
South Africa