The African National Congress (ANC), which has been South Africa's government since the end of the apartheid regime in 1994, is plucked but victorious from parliamentary elections. With the worst ever election results, voters missed the African National Congress (ANC) a clear lesson for mismanagement and scandals in recent years.

According to preliminary results, the ANC still receives 57.51 percent of the vote, but ended up in a parliamentary election below 60 percent for the first time. From the ANC point of view, even worse was the result of the local elections in 2016, when voters punished the party with 54.5 percent of the vote.

As the electoral commission announced on its website, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) gained 20.76 percent and the left-wing party "Fighter for Economic Freedom" (EFF) 10.79 percent.

Reasons for the weak performance of the ANC are likely to be corruption scandals and the still large gap between the income of whites and blacks. The support for the ANC is sinking. Especially in big cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria the party loses its consent. Just barely defended the ANC here its majority.

This will allow President Cyril Ramaphosa to remain in office for another five years. The ANC has enough seats to confirm it. But he should be faced with great challenges and a lot of political headwinds - and also from his own party.

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The ANC: divided, discredited by corruption

Because especially within the ANC rages a bitter power struggle. The times of unity, which the late Nelson Mandela knew to protect between partly ethnically founded factions, are long gone. The ANC's electoral list included many hardliners who reject Ramapho's reform plans.

For Ramaphosa it was the first choice. Only in February 2018 he took over the office of President from his scandalous predecessor Jacob Zuma, which he had already replaced the previous year as ANC Chairman. Under Zuma, who had used his reign for favoritism, the ANC lost massive popularity. The party, once thanked for the end of the racist apartheid regime, was reputed to secure self-service to South Africa's resources for an elite kleptocracy.

Whether Ramaphosa can counteract this decline remains to be seen. The former union leader has promised a crackdown on corruption, economic reforms to rehabilitate run-down state-owned enterprises, and more speed in the sluggish land reform. Insiders from his own party, however, doubt that he can meet these goals.