A top official in South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) says the party solidly backs President Cyril Ramaphosa despite results that show the ANC leading with only 42% of votes after over 60% of votes have been counted.
Nomvula Mokonyane, the first deputy secretary-general of the ANC, told reporters that Ramaphosa would still be the party leader and would not have to resign.
The result for the ANC, the party that has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, is regarded as its poorest in 30 years and the first time the party was on course to lose its parliamentary majority.
"Nobody is going to resign; collectively, all of us we still are confident that he (Ramaphosa) has to remain the president of the ANC, " said Nomvula Mokonyane.
"Hurdles that we come through do not have to be apportioned to an individual," she added.
Asked whether the ANC had started talking to smaller parties about coalition possibilities, Mokonyane said the ANC's leadership would meet to discuss the issue and that internal party bodies would be consulted.
"For now, we are not talking to anybody," she added.
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