Ramaphosa reelected as South African president

CAPE TOWN, South Africa | Xinhua | Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), was reelected by the National Assembly on Friday as the nation’s president for the next five years.

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who presided over the first sitting of the National Assembly, announced that Ramaphosa gained 283 votes to win the presidential election, while the other nominee, Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters, received 44 votes.

Earlier Friday, the ANC and the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), reached a deal to form a government of national unity and as part of the agreement, Ramaphosa was expected to be reelected with the support of the DA, according to local media reports.

In the general elections on May 29, the ANC secured 159 out of the 400 seats in the National Assembly, for the first time falling below the 50 percent needed to maintain its 30-year-old outright majority in the lower house of parliament. ■