DAVID SHAPSHAK , Johannesburg | Monday 9.00pm
THE African National Congress missed its two-thirds majority by just one seat in the National Assembly, in the final election results released on Monday night.
The ANC achieved 66,35% of the vote, or 266 seats out of 400, in Parliament — one short of the 267 needed to change the constitution without opposition. It is followed by the the Democratic Party, the country’s new official opposition, with 9,56% or 38 seats (up from 7). The Inkatha Freedom Party came in third with 8,58% (34 seats), the New National Party fourth with 6,87% (28 seats) and Bantu Holomisa’s United Democratic Movement polled 3,42% (14 seats).
In the Western Cape, the ANC beat the NNP by one seat — 18 to 17 — to take all but one of the country’s nine provinces.
In another contested province, KwaZulu-Natal, where the ANC tried to wrest power from the IFP, the ruling party fell two seats short in the provincial legislature, winning 32 to the Zulu-based party’s 34.
But both of these two provinces are likely to be ruled by opposition alliances — the DP and NNP in the Western Cape and the ANC and IFP in KwaZulu-Natal — as the jostling for provincial power settles in the next few days.
In Parliament, the African Christian Democratic Party increased its seats from two to six, while Louis Luyt’s Federal Alliance captured two seats. Amichand Rajbansi returned to Parliament (one seat) as did Lucas Mangope (three seats to his United Christine Democratic Party). The Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) managed one seat.
The NNP dropped from 82 to 28 seats, the IFP from 43 to 34, the Pan Africanist Congress went down from five to three seats. The Freedom Front lost six seats, down to three from nine.
The final result was announced by IEC chairwoman, Dr Brigalia Bam, while president-designate Thabo Mbeki stood alongside her and a host of political party leaders looked on.
The ANC’s Essop Pahad shrugged off the fact that the party had not won a two-thirds majority — saying it always an issue for the opposition but not the ANC, which merely wanted an overwhelming mandate from voters.
The ANC just failed to achieve more than 66,5% of the vote, according to the seat allocation formula, to be over the two-thirds threshold for seats in the National Assembly, IEC deputy electoral officer Norman du Plessis said earlier on Monday. “If your vote is below 66,5% then you are going to be one short. On 66,75% it is definitely over,” he said.