PRETORIA, June 15. /TASS/. The lower house of the South African parliament, the National Assembly, elected Cyril Ramaphosa as President of South Africa, Chief Justice of South Africa, Raymond Zondo said announcing the results of a secret ballot.
"Ramaphosa received 283 parliamentary votes, I proclaim him the elected President of South Africa," Zondo, who presided over the first meeting of the new National Assembly, said.
Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, Julius Malema, who was also nominated for the post of head of state, received 44 votes.
The election of Ramaphosa, who is the leader of the African National Congress party (ANC) and the current president of South Africa, was secured by the votes of the former opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), which represents the interests of South Africa's white minority.
As a result of the general elections held on May 29 in South Africa, the African National Congress won 159 out of 400 parliamentary seats in the National Assembly, which did not allow it to gain a parliamentary majority, create its own government and re-elect its leader as President of South Africa.
On June 14, the ANC and the DA, which received 87 seats, signed an agreement on the principles of creating a government of national unity, as part of which the Democratic Alliance committed to vote for Ramaphosa.
Secretary to Parliament Xolile George said the inauguration of the newly elected president will take place no later than June 19. After that, Ramaphosa is to announce the line-up of the government and its program. It is expected that this will be a national unity government, which will comprise a number of parliamentary parties, including the DA.
The upcoming five-year presidential term will be Ramaphosa's second. He took over as head of state in February 2018 after the resignation of Jacob Zuma, who was accused of corruption. In May 2019, general elections were held in South Africa, which were won by the ANC. After that Ramaphosa was elected President of South Africa.