AP, PRETORIA
South Africa’s long-dominant African National Congress (ANC) won overwhelmingly in parliamentary elections, but did not get the two-thirds of the vote it won with ease in the last elections, the final tally released yesterday showed. The victory puts party leader Jacob Zuma in line for the presidency.
The ANC took 65.9 percent of the nearly 18 million votes cast on Wednesday.
The victory was never in doubt. But it was unclear whether the party would retain its coveted two-thirds of the seats in the 400-seat parliament. The vote tally roughly parallels the seat distribution, but the exact number of seats must still be allotted by election officials using a complicated formula after the final count is certified.
ANC spokesman Ishmael Mnisi said the apparent slide from previous votes was unimportant.
“We don’t read much into percentages,” he said. “We’re quite happy with the mandate that the people of all races, black and white, have given the ANC.”
The ANC won 69.69 percent of the vote in the last elections in 2004, when it was led by Zuma’s rival Thabo Mbeki. It won 66.35 percent in 1999. In the country’s first all-race vote in 1994, the ANC won 62.64 percent of the vote.
The party’s rivals will make much of the slide, however.
It could be seen as a message that voters want some limits on the party. ANC rivals had argued Zuma should not have the two-thirds majority needed to enact major budgetary plans or legislation unchallenged or to change the constitution.
In total more than 77 percent of the country’s record 23 million registered voters cast ballots. Turnout in 2004 was about 76 percent of more than 20 million registered voters..
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS