South Africa's ruling ANC won a sweeping election victory today and party leader Jacob Zuma pledged that as president he would work with unions and business to ensure stability amid global turmoil.
"There will be no surprises in the next administration's programme of action," Mr Zuma said in a victory speech.
"The electorate has endorsed our call for an equitable, sustainable and inclusive growth path that will bring decent work and sustainable livelihoods," said Mr Zuma, due to be sworn in as president on May 9th.
Official results of Wednesday's election gave Mr Zuma's African National Congress 65.9 per cent of the vote, a big victory but just short of the two-thirds needed to ensure a parliamentary majority big enough to make sweeping constitutional changes unchallenged.
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.
But Mr Zuma has done all he can to emphasise that there will be no dramatic change, particularly as South Africa faces its first recession in 17 years as a result of the global financial crisis and cannot afford to discourage investment.
In his speech, he addressed both business interests and the leftist allies who helped his rise to power during eight years of struggling against corruption charges, which were dismissed early this month on a technicality.
"We are concerned about the potential impact of the global economic crisis. We will work with all stakeholders, especially business and labour, to find ways to prevent and cushion our people against job losses and other difficulties that may arise," he said.
The Independent Electoral Commission released official results and said the ANC will be allocated 264 seats in South Africa's 400-seat parliament after it won 11.65 million votes out of 17.68 million valid votes cast in the April 22nd election.
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 per cent in 2004.
The ANC also lost control of the Western Cape province, centre of the tourist industry, to the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Helen Zille, a white woman.
Reuters