South Africa political parties cobble together unity government

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JOHANNESBURG, June 13, (AP): South African lawmakers are expected to elect the country’s president on Friday after being sworn in at the first sitting of Parliament that will also reveal the kind of unity government that the ruling African National Congress has managed to cobble together after losing its majority for the first time since 1994.
The lawmakers are also expected to elect Parliament’s new speaker and deputy speaker, choices that will be determined by negotiations that have taken place between the ANC and opposition parties since the country’s election results were declared nearly two weeks ago.
Parties are under pressure to conclude negotiations by Thursday to fulfill the constitutional requirement to swear in lawmakers and elect the president within 14 days of election results being declared.
The African National Congress won 40% of the national vote during the country’s highly contested election, followed by the Democratic Alliance, or DA, with just over 21% and the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party with about 15% of the vote in their first-ever election.
The ANC has opted to form a national unity government that will include most political parties that contested the election instead of a straightforward coalition with a few parties.
However, initial negotiations have laid bare the deep divisions between South Africa’s political parties, with some already rejecting the proposed unity government while others have agreed to be part of it.
The ANC’s national executive committee, the party’s highest decision-making body between conferences, will meet in Cape Town on Thursday to finalize the agreements it has made with the other parties and will make an announcement afterwards.
On Wednesday, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the fifth-biggest party with 3.85% of the vote, confirmed it had decided to join the national unity government that will be led by the ANC.

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