The ANC, which led the fight to free South Africa from apartheid, won 159 seats in the 400-member national assembly on a vote share of just over 40%. High unemployment, power cuts, violent crime and crumbling infrastructure have contributed to a haemorrhaging of support for the former liberation movement.
The pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) won 87 seats, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) - a new party led by the former president Jacob Zuma - took 58, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a Marxist-Leninist party led by the ousted ANC youth leader Julius Malema took 39.
The ANC also lost its majority in three provinces: Northern Cape; Gauteng, home to the commercial centre of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria; and KwaZulu-Natal, where MK was the largest party.
"What this election has made plain is that the people of South Africa expect their leaders to work together to meet their needs," South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, told an audience of politicians, diplomats and civil society leaders after the official results announcement, as thunder rumbled outside.
"They expect the parties for which they have voted to find common ground, to overcome their differences, to act and work together for the good of everyone."
Ramaphosa also joked, to laughter from the crowd, that he wished it was true when the electoral commission chairman accidentally said he was announcing the 2029 election results.
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