Cape Town, 15 June 2024 (dpa/MIA) - South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has been confirmed for a second term in office by the country's newly elected parliament.

Ramaphosa received 283 out of 339 votes, as Raymond Zondo, the country's Chief Justice, said on Friday evening.

Earlier on Friday, Ramaphosa secured a coalition agreement between his African National Congress (ANC) party and the former opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA).

John Steenhuisen, a leading DA politician, said in Cape Town that a "new chapter" was beginning in South Africa after two weeks of intensive negotiations.

The declaration to form a government of national unity was signed and stated that the coalition, which includes other parties, is in the interests of all South Africans.

The ANC, the party of former anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela, suffered a massive loss of power in the parliamentary elections on May 29.

Over the past 30 years, since the start of democracy in 1994, the ANC had always won an absolute majority and governed the continent's strongest economy alone.

The southern African country of 61 million people suffers from a struggling economy, mass unemployment, dilapidated state-owned enterprises, regular power outages, as well as high crime and corruption.

Politically and economically, South Africa is regarded as the "gateway to Africa," a continent that is becoming increasingly important internationally due to its abundance of raw materials needed for the global energy transition away from fossil fuels.

Although South Africa maintains good relations with Western countries, the government is closely connected to Russia and China. The country has taken a strong pro-Palestinian stance in the Gaza war and has filed a genocide lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

MIA file photo