The African National Congress, which has held the majority rule since 1994 and is Africa's oldest liberation movement, has faced a historic defeat in South Africa's 2024 general elections.

The African National Congress (ANC) has lost its outright majority and there is no outright winner of the 2024 general elections.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced the results of South Africa's 2024 national and provincial elections at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Sunday night, 2 June 2024.

"Elections 2024 was like no other before," said IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo. "It had salient features pointing to an ever-increasing magnitude of political dynamism, an effervescent electoral environment and operational complexity."

"Even with novel challenges and political contours never experienced before, the 2024 election is a moment of democratic election," said Mamabolo. He said the watershed polls were overwhelmingly found to be "free and fair".

In the top spot nationally, the ANC has 40.2% - which is well below an outright majority and is 17 percentage points lower than its 2019 general election result of 57.5% nationally. The governing party, and Africa's oldest liberation movement, has faced a defeat second to none.

Previously, the ANC's biggest drop from one election to the next was 4.7 percentage points, in 2019.

At a press conference on the outcome of the 2024 general election on Sunday morning, ANC secretary-general...