LISTEN | The people have exercised their democratic right, says ANC on brink of losing absolute majority

The ANC will look at its principles and what its voters want when it enters into a coalition to govern the country, the party said as total control slipped through its fingers.

Listen to the party's views:

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said coalition talks — or co-operation discussions, as she prefers to say — will begin only when the numbers have been finalised. The ANC has been in complete control of government since the dawn of democracy in 1994, with its continuous electoral decline since the 2009 elections likely to lead this year to a coalition government at national level.

From what executive party members such as Fikile Mbalula, Naledi Pandor and Nomvula Mokonyane have been saying, the party did not prepare for a coalition government. Its stance was such an arrangement would disrupt the progress of transformation.

By Friday afternoon, about 67% of the votes had been captured, with the ANC stagnant in the early 40s since Thursday morning.

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