South Africa: Cyril Ramaphosa Re-elected President

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates Ramaphosa on his re-election

Thoko Didiza

South Africa’s parliament has re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as president of the African country. Promising to create a government of national unity, Ramaphosa received 283 votes, while candidate Julius Malema managed to secure the support of only 44 MPs. Ramaphosa’s overwhelming re-election came as a surprise after the May 29 general election, which for the first time saw the Ramaphosa-led African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power in South Africa for 30 years since the end of apartheid, fail to win an absolute majority of seats. The new government of national unity will consist of the ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the Patriotic Alliance.

At the same meeting of the new National Assembly, South African MPs also elected Thoko Didiza (pictured) as the new Speaker of Parliament. South African MPs have decided to assign the role of vice president and speaker of parliament to the two candidates belonging to the two main groups that received the most votes in the May 29 legislative elections. The first elected candidate is Annelie Lotriet of the Democratic Alliance (DA), while the second is Vuyo Zungula of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), part of the coalition that backed the ANC in the elections.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first to congratulate Ramaphosa on his re-election as President of South Africa, emphasizing his contribution to the development of relations and strategic partnership between the two countries. “We highly appreciate his personal contribution to the development of strategic partnership relations between our countries, as well as to productive Russian-South African cooperation within the framework of the UN, BRICS, G20, and other multilateral structures,” reads the congratulatory message circulated by the Kremlin.