A top official with South Africa’s African National Congress party said Thursday it has a broad agreement with the main opposition and other parties to form a coalition government.
The announcement comes on the eve of the first sitting of South Africa’s new Parliament, when lawmakers will elect the president.
The ANC needs help from, other parties to reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa after it lost its long-held parliamentary majority in an election two weeks ago.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula told reporters the main opposition Democratic Alliance and other smaller parties had agreed on the principle of forming a “government of national unity” with the ANC.
Parliament's first sitting
The ANC had a clear majority until this election since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994 and a coalition government will be a first for South Africa at national level.
South African lawmakers are expected to elect the country's president Friday after being sworn in at the first sitting of Parliament.
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.
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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