South African President Ramaphosa gets a new mandate, even though his party lost

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa won a second term as his party, which lost its majority in the election, reached a coalition agreement with a former political opponent just hours before the vote.

Ramaphosa, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), won a landslide victory in parliament against suddenly nominated candidate Julius Malema of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party. Ramaphosa received 283 votes, Malema 44 in the 400-member parliament.

Ramaphosa (71) secured a second term with the help of MPs from the second largest party in the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and some other smaller parties. They backed his re-election after his ANC party lost its long-standing majority in elections two weeks ago, when it fell to 159 seats in parliament.

At the break of a marathon parliamentary session, the ANC signed a last-minute agreement with the DA, ensuring Ramaphosa remains president of South Africa, the most industrialized economy on the African continent. The two parties will now jointly rule South Africa in the first national coalition in which no party has a majority in parliament.

Under the agreement, the ANC unites with the DA, a white-led party that has for years been the main opposition and the ANC's harshest critic. At least two other smaller parties joined the deal.

Ramaphosa called the deal a new birth and a new era for the country and said it was time for the parties to overcome their differences and work together.

"We will do that and I am committed to achieving that as president," Ramaphosa said.

Nelson Mandela's famous ANC party has ruled South Africa with a comfortable majority since the end of apartheid, white minority rule, in 1994.

But she lost her 30-year majority in the May 29 election, a turning point for the country. The vote came at a time of widespread discontent among South Africans over high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Analysts say there could be complications given the very different ideologies of the ANC, the former liberation movement, and the centrist business-oriented DA party, which won 21 percent in the national election, second only to the ANC's 40 percent. .