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South Africa's ANC wins huge poll victory
Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:17am EDT
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By Stella Mapenzauswa and Serena Chaudhry
PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling ANC won a huge victory in the country's election but fell short of the two-thirds of votes needed to ensure a parliamentary majority big enough to make sweeping constitutional changes unchallenged.
Final results of the election -- which will see African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma becoming South Africa's president on May 9 -- showed on Saturday that the ruling party won 65.9 percent of the vote.
The margin that would let the ANC change the constitution is largely symbolic. Despite some market concerns over whether the ANC would get the two-thirds majority, the party repeatedly has stressed that it has no intention of changing the constitution.
Financial markets wary of a policy shift to the left under a Zuma presidency may welcome a limit on the party's power.
Political analyst Steven Friedman said the result meant the ANC now had to worry more about the opposition than it had since the party took power 15 years ago.
"The effect of them not getting the two-thirds, despite the euphoria, really underlines that there has been a drop in the ANC vote," he said.
"The ANC has to worry more about the opposition now than it has had to do since democracy."
Electoral officials were expected to announce a result formally later on Saturday. They will also have to calculate the number of seats each party will get.
Although a newly formed party of ANC dissidents has failed to make a dramatic impact, the ruling party has seen its share of the vote fall for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994. It won nearly 70 percent in 2004.
The ANC also lost control of the Western Cape province, center of the tourist industry, to the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Helen Zille, a white woman.
But the ANC celebrated what was still an overwhelming victory under the leadership of Zuma, who just three weeks ago succeeded in getting a court to drop graft charges his supporters say were politically motivated.
The party's credentials for ending white minority rule were more important for many voters than its doubtful record on fighting poverty, violent crime and AIDS.
"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.
CLEAN VICTORY
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga congratulated the ANC and Zuma on Saturday, saying the ruling party's victory resonated well beyond South Africa's borders. Continued...
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