South Africa announced its final election results Sunday that confirmed no party won a majority, and unprecedented coalitions talks were starting to find a way forward for Africa's most advanced economy.
The African National Congress party had already lost its 30-year majority after more than 99 per cent of votes were counted by Saturday and showed it couldn't surpass 50 per cent. The ANC received around 40 per cent of the votes in last week's election in the final count, the largest share.
Without a majority it will need to agree a coalition with another party or parties for the first time to govern South Africa and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term.
South Africa's national elections decide how many seats each party gets in Parliament and lawmakers elect the president later.
The ANC was the party of Nelson Mandela and freed South Africa from the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. It had governed with a comfortable majority since then.
The ANC said earlier Sunday that it was starting its negotiations with all major parties in an attempt to form South Africa's first national coalition government.
