ANC claims election victory but falls short of two-thirds
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ruling ANC claimed victory yesterday in a general election that will make party leader Jacob Zuma president, but was set to fall just short of a symbolically important two-thirds of the vote.
With over 95 percent of ballots counted, the African National Congress had under 66.1 percent.
It needs 66.7 percent to be able to change the constitution on its own and further entrench its hold, a scenario of some concern to financial markets.
"The ANC has been given a clear and resounding mandate," senior party official Matthews Phosa told thousands of cheering supporters at a victory party in Johannesburg, appealing for unity among all South Africans.
Despite the failure of a party of ANC dissidents to make a dramatic impact, the ANC had less than the nearly 70 percent of the vote it won in 2004 and appeared to have lost control of Western Cape Province, center of the tourist industry.
A reinvigorated opposition had hoped to at least curb the majority to below two-thirds, but for many voters the ANC's credentials from the fight against white minority rule still outweigh its failure to reduce crime, poverty, and AIDS.
