Boeing's new Starliner capsule docks with space station

Boeing's new Starliner capsule and its inaugural two-member Nasa crew safely docked with the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday, meeting a key test in proving the vessel's flight-worthiness and sharpening Boeing's competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX.The rendezvous was achieved despite an earlier loss of several guidance-control jet thrusters, some of them due to a helium propulsion leak, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Boeing said should not compromise the mission.The CST-100 Starliner, with veteran astronauts Barry 'Butch' Wilmore and Sunita 'Suni' Williams aboard, arrived at the orbiting platform after a flight of roughly 26 hours following its launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.The reusable gumdrop-shaped capsule, dubbed 'Calypso' by its crew, was lofted into space on Wednesday atop an Atlas V rocket furnished and flown by Boeing-Lockheed Martin's United Launch Alliance joint venture.It autonomously docked with the ISS while both were orbiting some 250 miles (400km) over the southern Indian Ocean at 1.34pm EDT (1734 GMT).The spacecraft's final approach to the ISS and docking, following a brief interval when Wilmore manually controlled the capsule, was shown on a Nasa webcast.Wilmore and Williams are the first crew to fly Starliner, which Boeing and Nasa are hoping to certify for regular rides to the ISS – a role SpaceX has been fulfilling for the past four years, at significantly lower cost to the US taxpayer.Starliner is just the sixth type of US-built spaceship to fly Nasa astronauts, following the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes in the 1960s and 1970s, the Space Shuttle from 1981 to 2011, and SpaceX's Crew Dragon from 2020.Boeing's programme faced setbacks ranging from a software bug that put the spaceship on a bad trajectory on its first uncrewed test, to the discovery that the cabin was filled with flammable electrical tape after the second.A successful mission would help dispel the bitter taste left by years of safety scares and delays, and provide Boeing a much-needed reprieve from the intense safety concerns surrounding its passenger jets.During their roughly weeklong stay on the orbital outpost, Wilmore and Williams will continue to evaluate the spacecraft systems, including simulating whether the ship can be used as a safe haven in the event of problems.After undocking from the ISS, Starliner will re-enter the atmosphere, with the crew experiencing 3.5G as they slow down from 17,500mph (28,000kph) to a gentle parachute- and airbag-assisted touchdown in the western United States.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684283/international/boeings-new-starliner-capsule-docks-with-space-station

Slovak PM eyes return to work after shooting

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Wednesday he might return to work later this month and also accused the opposition of showing hatred and aggressiveness towards his party, in his first public comments since a May 15 assassination attempt.Fico is recovering at home after being shot four times at close range when he greeted supporters at a government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova. The attack left him in serious condition in hospital and needing hours of surgery. In a video message posted on Facebook, Fico called his attacker an opposition activist, saying there was no reason to believe the shooting was the act of a “lone lunatic”.He said he felt no hatred toward the attacker and would not seek damages.“On May 15, a Slovak opposition activist tried to assassinate me in Handlova because of my political views,” Fico said in the video, adding medical staff had prevented the worst.“If everything goes optimally, I could gradually return to work at the turn of June and July.”Dressed in a button-down shirt with rolled sleeves and filmed from the waist up sitting in a black leather office chair, Fico looked in good health.His attacker, identified by prosecutors as 71-year old Juraj C, was detained on the spot after the attack and charged with attempted premeditated murder.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684206/international/slovak-pm-eyes-return-to-work-after-shooting

French artist takes own life after wife’s death

French artist Ben, best known for his slogans in handwriting against a black background, has died aged 88, taking his own life just hours after the death of his wife with whom he had been married 60 years, his family said on Wednesday.His wife Annie suffered a stroke on Monday evening, and died on Wednesday, the couple’s two children, Eva and Francois, said in a statement.“Unwilling and unable to live without her, Ben killed himself a few hours later at their home” in Saint-Pancrace, a district of the French Mediterranean city of Nice. “The world of culture has lost a legend,” Culture Minister Rachida Dati said, hailing a “goldsmith of language” with “humorous, sometimes satirical writing” and whose “art will continue to make France shine throughout the world.”“On our children’s pencil cases, on so many everyday objects and even in our imaginations, Ben had left his mark, made of freedom and poetry, of apparent lightness and overwhelming depth,” added President Emmanuel Macron in a statement.Police vehicles remained stationed all day on Wednesday outside the artist’s residence in Nice while a forensics investigator and a public prosecutor arrived at midday for the investigation into the causes of death, an AFP journalist said.The precise cause of death was not immediately clear.Born in Naples in 1935 as Benjamin Vautier to a Franco-Swiss family, Ben co-founded the so-called Nice school of artists with fellow luminaries based in the Cote d’Azur including Yves Klein. His “writings” — phrases often drawn in white paint on a black background — seem at first glance to have been dreamed up by a schoolboy.But they shake up the established notions of contemporary art with phrases like “What is the use of art?”, “Is the new always new?”, “What are you doing here?”, or “My biggest worry is me”.Ben defended the presence of art in everyday life and his works have been reproduced on school bags, pencil cases and notebooks and also adorn tram stops in Nice.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684205/international/french-artist-takes-own-life-after-wifes-death

Hunter Biden gun trial opens with focus on drug use

Jurors heard unsparing accounts of Hunter Biden’s drug use in his own words on Tuesday as his trial on gun charges, the first ever prosecution of a child of a sitting US president, got underway.Hunter Biden, 54, the only surviving son of President Joe Biden, is charged with lying about his illegal drug use when buying a handgun in 2018, a felony.He is also charged with illegal possession of the firearm, which he had for just 11 days in October 2018.“No-one is above the law — it doesn’t matter who you are and what your name is,” prosecutor Derek Hines said in his opening statement at the federal trial being held in the Biden family stronghold of Wilmington.“Robert H Biden chose to illegally own a firearm” when “he was a user of crack and a drug addict,” Hines added, as the court was shown an image of the Colt Cobra revolver at the heart of the case.The prosecutor played extracts from Hunter Biden’s memoir Beautiful Things recorded by Biden himself, in which he recalled his descent into addiction when he would desperately seek out crack cocaine.“I cooked (crack) and smoked. I cooked and smoked,” said the extract played to the court, taken from his audiobook.First Lady Jill Biden was in court again on Tuesday and had a serious expression as the extracts were played.Hunter Biden’s lawyer said that he “was not using drugs when he bought that gun” and that it “was never loaded, never carried, never used” during the 11 days he owned it.Biden, a Yale-trained lawyer and lobbyist-turned-artist, has stated that he has been sober since 2019.An FBI agent took the stand after both sides gave their opening statements.A 12-member jury with four alternates was seated on Monday.Expected to last up to two weeks, Hunter Biden’s trial comes as his father is seeking reelection, and just days after the conviction on business fraud charges of Donald Trump, the president’s likely opponent in November.The proceedings, along with another trial in which Hunter Biden faces tax evasion charges in California, complicate Democrats’ efforts to keep the focus on Trump, the first former president ever to be convicted of a crime.Trump also faces three far more serious criminal cases, including for his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.The president did not attend but said he and Jill were “proud” of Hunter Biden.“As the president, I don’t and won’t comment on pending federal cases, but as a dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength,” Biden said in a statement.He said Monday his son’s difficulties would resonate widely.“Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us. A lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction and know what we mean,” he said.In addition to being a political distraction, Hunter Biden’s legal woes have reopened painful emotional wounds for the family, stemming from his time as a drug addict and well before.His brother Beau died from cancer in 2015, and his sister Naomi died as an infant in a 1972 car crash that also killed their mother, Neilia, Joe Biden’s first wife.If found guilty, Hunter Biden could face 25 years in prison, although as a first-time offender, jail time is unlikelyThe president’s son has long been the target of hard-right Republicans, and Trump allies have investigated him at length in Congress on allegations of corruption and influence-peddling. No charges have ever been brought.His business dealings in China and Ukraine have also formed the basis for attempts by Republican lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against his father. Those efforts too have gone nowhere.The White House said last year that there would be no presidential pardon for Hunter Biden in case of a conviction.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684111/international/hunter-biden-gun-trial-opens-with-focus-on-drug-use

Russia imposes sanctions on UK politicians, journalists, experts

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on a number of British politicians, journalists, and experts.'In response to the hostile actions from the British side, a decision has been made to put a number of representatives of the political establishment, press corps and expert community of the UK on the Russian stop-list', the Ministry said in a statement.The Russian Ministry indicated that the efforts made by some Britons to discredit Russia and isolate it internationally will be decisively confronted by Moscow.In March last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it had included 23 British citizens from the armed forces, judiciary and prison system in Britain on the sanctions banned list.Britain imposed more than 50 sanctions on Russia last February, targeting ammunition manufacturers, electronics companies, and diamond and oil traders.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684031/international/russia-imposes-sanctions-on-uk-politicians-journalists-experts

Sheinbaum is elected first woman president of Mexico

Claudia Sheinbaum was elected Mexico’s first woman president by a landslide, making history in a country plagued by rampant criminal and gender-based violence.Flag-waving supporters sang and danced to mariachi music on Sunday in celebration of the ruling party candidate’s victory, in a nation where around 10 women or girls are murdered every day.“I want to thank millions of Mexican women and men who decided to vote for us on this historic day,” Sheinbaum told the cheering crowd. The 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor thanked her main opposition rival Xochitl Galvez, who conceded defeat.Mexico’s outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador hailed Sheinbaum’s victory as a “historic event,” while US President Joe Biden said he looked forward to working with her “in the spirit of partnership and friendship.”Sheinbaum, a scientist by training, won around 58-60% of votes, according to preliminary official results from the National Electoral Institute, which estimated turnout at 60%.That was more than 30 percentage points ahead of Galvez, and some 50 percentage points ahead of the only man running, centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez.Maria de los Angeles Gordillo, a 37-year-old member of the Tojolabal Indigenous community, said she was moved to tears as she listened to Sheinbaum speak.“I’m here to celebrate this historic moment for our country and especially for women who carry these inequalities on their skin,” she said. Voters had flocked to polling stations across the Latin American nation, despite sporadic violence in areas terrorized by ultra-violent drug cartels.Thousands of troops were deployed to protect voters, following a particularly bloody electoral season that saw more than two dozen aspiring local politicians murdered.“Our society is violent, sexist, misogynistic and Dr Sheinbaum as president will really be able to help change not only the laws but society,” said Lol-Kin Castaneda, 48, who waited late into the night to hear the winner speak.“Mexico can’t stand any more violence,” she added.Women going to the polls had cheered the prospect of their favoured candidate breaking the highest political glass ceiling.“A female president will be a transformation for this country, and we hope that she does more for women,” said Clemencia Hernandez, a 55-year-old cleaner in Mexico City.“Many women are subjugated by their partners. They’re not allowed to leave home to work,” she said.Daniela Perez, 30, said that having a woman president would be “something historic,” even though neither of the two main candidates was “totally feminist” in her view.Nearly 100mn people were registered to vote in the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country, home to 129mn people.Sheinbaum owes much of her popularity to outgoing president Lopez Obrador, a fellow leftist and mentor who has an approval rating of more than 60 percent but is only allowed to serve one term.In another win for the ruling party, its candidate Clara Brugada was elected mayor of Mexico City, one of the country’s most important political jobs, preliminary results showed.In a nation where politics, crime and corruption are closely entangled, drug cartels went to extreme lengths to ensure that their preferred candidates win.Hours before polls opened, a local candidate was murdered in a violent western state, authorities said, joining at least 25 other political hopefuls killed this election season, according to official figures.In the central Mexican state of Puebla, two people died after unknown persons attacked polling stations to steal papers, a local government security source told AFP.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684004/international/sheinbaum-is-elected-first-woman-president-of-mexico

Biden’s son Hunter stands trial on gun charge

Hunter Biden, the long-troubled son of Joe Biden, went on trial on Monday on gun charges in a historic first prosecution of a sitting president’s child — and potential threat to his father’s re-election.The only surviving son of President Biden, Hunter Biden is charged with lying about his illegal drug use when buying a handgun in 2018, a felony.The 54-year-old arrived in court in his hometown of Wilmington, accompanied by family members, including First Lady Jill Biden, although not the president. Jury selection got underway, with the trial expected to last one to two weeks.President Biden said he and the first lady, who was marking her 73rd birthday on Monday, were “so proud” of Hunter Biden.“As the President, I don’t and won’t comment on pending federal cases, but as a dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength,” Biden said in a statement. The trial comes days after a jury in New York made history by finding Donald Trump guilty of business fraud, the first time a former president has ever been criminally convicted.Trump, who is running as the Republican challenger to Joe Biden in November, faces three other far more serious criminal cases, including his alleged attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.The Delaware trial — along with another in which Hunter Biden faces charges in California on tax evasion — is an embarrassment for Joe Biden, as he seeks a second term and hopes to keep the country’s focus on Trump’s behaviour. In addition to being a political distraction, Hunter Biden’s legal woes will reopen painful emotional wounds for the family from his lengthy period as a serious drug addict — a period that both he and his father have discussed publicly. Hunter Biden’s brother Beau died from cancer in 2015 and his sister Naomi died as an infant in a 1972 car crash.The Yale-trained lawyer and lobbyist-turned-artist is charged with falsely stating on legal paperwork when buying a .38 calibre Colt Cobra revolver in 2018 that he was not using drugs illegally. He is also charged with illegal possession of the firearm, which he had for just 11 days in October of that year.Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty. He had earlier reached a plea deal with prosecutors but this collapsed, leading to the trial. Prosecutors are set to introduce voluminous — and often uncomfortable — evidence linked to Hunter Biden’s years as an addict. They have called as witnesses three of his former partners, including Lunden Roberts, the mother of one of his children.The president’s son, who has written unsparingly about his addiction, will contend that at the moment he bought the revolver, he did not consider himself to be an addict. He has stated that he has been sober since 2019.If found guilty, Hunter Biden could face 25 years in prison, although as a first-time offender he could get a far lighter sentence or escape any jail time.President Biden on Monday said that his son’s difficulties would resonate widely.“Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he has brought to his recovery are inspiring to us. A lot of families have loved ones who have overcome addiction and know what we mean,” he said.Hunter Biden has long been the target of Trump and hard-right Republicans, amplified by exhaustive coverage on Fox News.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/684003/international/bidens-son-hunter-stands-trial-on-gun-charge

EU readies for elections as far-right set to surge

EU voters go to the polls in a week’s time, with far-right, nationalist parties expected to do well in the bloc’s next parliament in a time of social and geopolitical uncertainty.The outcome of the June 6-9 elections will help determine the make-up of the next European Commission, whose chief Ursula von der Leyen is hoping to earn a second term.At stake is the posture the European Union will assume over the coming five years, globally in partnership with key Western ally the United States — which has its own electoral choice to make in November, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.EU voters, according to surveys, are weighing up issues such as the war in Ukraine, economic prospects, trade protectionism including in the United States, the risk of AI to jobs, migration, and climate change.But with nearly seven out of 10 Europeans seeing the EU as “a place of stability in a troubled world”, according to a Eurobarometer poll, there is little appetite for Brexit-like moves in member states.Instead, far-right candidates are appealing to voters on nationalistic — often ethno-nationalistic — manifestos while pledging to stay in the European Union albeit with a marked Eurosceptic stance.They vow to champion cultural and economic preferences, tighten border controls, and have decision-making become more bilateral rather than Brussels-based.Their promises are resonating with key constituencies, such as European farmers and — through adept use of TikTok — European youth.The rise of nationalist governments in Italy, Hungary, and The Netherlands have also helped to normalise their appeal.The election is widely predicted to see a surge for extreme-right lawmakers, according to opinion polls that predict the two main far-right factions winning around a quarter of the seats in the next 720-member parliament.Overall, however, Europe’s political centre is expected to hold.The parliament’s two main groupings — von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centre-left Socialists & Democrats — are forecast to come out on top, though maybe with the loss of a few seats.Yet to achieve parliamentary majorities, broader coalitions may need to be formed, at least on an ad hoc basis.One could, as now, incorporate the centrist grouping that includes the party of French President Emmanuel Macron, which looks headed for a midterm drubbing.Another could have the EPP working with far-right lawmakers, something von der Leyen has left the door open to — as long as they were not anti-EU or Moscow’s “puppets”.She explicitly ruled out partnering with Germany’s scandal-plagued Alternative for Germany (AfD). That could presage a bigger role for the post-fascist party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who seems keen to act as powerbroker in the next parliament.Investigations into allegations of Russian political meddling via right-wing lawmakers, mainly targeting the AfD, have dogged Europe’s far-right in the run-up to the vote.But arguably a bigger problem for the far-right is its divisions over Ukraine.One faction, the European Conservatives and Reformists that includes Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, supports Kyiv in its fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.The other — the Identity and Democracy group home to Macron rival Marine Le Pen’s National Rally — is sceptical about giving Ukraine further help.Surveys show the war is prominent in voters’ minds.More than three-quarters support a common defence and security policy and nearly as many want boosted military production, according to Eurobarometer. A majority approve sending military equipment to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.One of the main obstacles to EU support for Ukraine is Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban is close to Putin.Orban’s government will assume the rotating EU presidency in the last half of this year — setting the bloc’s agenda just as the new parliament sits and as the next European Commission is to be decided.A higher-profile far-right in Brussels and in the EU parliament could impact several EU dossiers.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/683954/international/eu-readies-for-elections-as-far-right-set-to-surge

One parliament, 27 ways of voting

More than 350mn people across 27 countries are called on to participate in one of the West’s largest democratic events from June 6 to 9, when EU residents will elect 720 members of the European Parliament.Here are five things to know about the vote:Keeping things in proportionAll countries must use proportional representation, meaning that a party’s share of the vote is reflected in its seat tally.But each member state has its own variant.Here are the three main types of electoral system, ranked from least to most complicated:Closed-list votingSix countries, including Germany, France and Spain use this system, in which voters can only vote for a party list and cannot change the order of the party’s candidates on the list.Preferential votingVoters can express their preference for one or more candidates.In some countries, they may only change the position of candidates on a single list. In others, they can pick candidates from different lists.Candidates who win the most preference votes win seats.This method is favoured by 19 countries including Italy, Poland, The Netherlands and the Nordic countries.Single transferable voteVoters rank candidates in order of their preference.Candidates are elected once they reach a certain threshold of votes.Any surplus votes are then passed down to the voter’s next-preferred candidate to help them get across the line. And so on down the choices, through successive rounds of counting, to the least-preferred candidate.Malta and Ireland both use this system.A right or a duty?Four countries have made voting in the EU elections mandatory: Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria and Luxembourg, though action is rarely taken against abstainers.In other countries, voters decide whether to make their voices heard or not.Lowering the voting ageIn most EU countries you must be 18 to vote.But Germany and Belgium have recently joined Austria, Greece and Malta in lowering the voting age for the ballot to 16.To stand in the European election, you have to be 18 in most countries.But in Poland and the Czech Republic, you have to be 21, in Romania at least 23 and in Italy and Greece at least 25.Postal voting in, e-voting outThirteen states, including Germany, Spain and the Nordic countries, allow postal voting, mostly for citizens living abroad. This year, Greece’s sizeable diaspora will for the first time test the procedure, which gained in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic.As for voting online, forget it.Only tech-savvy Estonia allows its citizens to cast their ballots electronically.Gender quotasTen countries including France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg, impose gender quotas on party listsIn Spain, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia and Croatia, parties must field at least 40% of candidates of each gender, compared with 35 percent in Poland.Romania passed a law to promote gender equality in its elections, but the vague wording made it ineffective.With a mere 15% of women in Romania’s current clutch of MEPs, it is the most male-dominated in the European Parliament.Luxembourg’s group has the most women (67%), followed by Finland (57%) and Sweden (52%) — the latter two notably electing more women without any quotas in place.Currently, 39.8% of MEPs are women.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/683953/international/one-parliament-27-ways-of-voting

Boeing Starliner launch cancelled in final minutes of countdown

Boeing’s second attempt at launching a crew aboard its troubled Starliner spaceship was dramatically aborted on Saturday with just minutes left on the countdown clock, yet another setback for a programme that has faced years of delays.With the astronauts strapped in and ready for liftoff, the test mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was unexpectedly halted due to reasons that aren’t yet clear – closely mirroring events of just weeks prior.It is not uncommon in the space industry for countdowns to be halted at the 11th hour and for launches to be postponed for days or weeks, even when seemingly minor malfunctions or unusual sensor readings are detected, especially in new spacecraft flying humans for the first time.United Launch Alliance (ULA), responsible for the Atlas V rocket that Starliner sits atop, is now investigating why an “automatic hold” was triggered by its computer with three minutes and 50 seconds to go before launch.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams smiled and looked upbeat after they were removed from the capsule and were taken back to crew quarters.Mission commander Wilmore had earlier given a short but rousing speech, telling tens of thousands of people tuning into the live feed that “It’s a great day to be proud of your nation”.The former US Navy test pilots, who each have two spaceflights under their belts, were previously called back to quarantine hours before a launch attempt on May 6 because of a faulty valve on the rocket.The next available launch window for the mission is today about noon local time, followed by two more opportunities on Wednesday and Thursday.Starliner was poised to become just the sixth type of US-built spaceship to fly Nasa astronauts, following the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes in the 1960s and 1970s, the Space Shuttle from 1981 to 2011, and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon from 2020.Nasa is looking to certify Boeing as a second commercial operator to ferry crews to the ISS – something Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already been doing for the US space agency for four years.Both companies received multibillion-dollar contracts in 2014 to develop their gumdrop-shaped, autonomously piloted crew capsules, following the end of the Space Shuttle programme in 2011 that left the US temporarily reliant on Russian rockets for rides.Boeing, with its 100-year history, was heavily favoured over its then-upstart competitor, but its programme fell badly behind amid embarrassing setbacks that mirrored the myriad problems afflicting its commercial airline division.These ranged from a software bug that put the spaceship on a bad trajectory on its first uncrewed test, to the discovery that the cabin was filled with flammable electrical tape after the second.While teams worked to replace the faulty rocket valve that postponed the previous launch attempt, a small helium leak located in one of Starliner’s thrusters came to light.However, rather than replace the seal, which would require taking the spaceship apart in its factory, Nasa and Boeing officials declared it safe enough to fly as is.When they do fly, Wilmore and Williams will be tasked with putting Starliner through the wringer, including taking manual control of the spacecraft.Starliner is set to dock with the ISS for eight days as the crew carry out tests, including simulating whether the ship can be used as a safe haven in the event there is a problem on the orbital outpost.After undocking, it will re-enter the atmosphere and carry out a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the western United States.A successful mission would offer Boeing a much-needed reprieve from the intense safety concerns surrounding its 737 MAX passenger jets.It’s also important for more immediate reasons.The Urine Processor Assembly on the ISS, which recycles water from astronauts’ urine, suffered a failure this week and its pump needs to be replaced, with Starliner charged with bringing up the spare part.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/683853/international/boeing-starliner-launch-cancelled-in-final-minutes-of-countdown

‘No alternative’: Ramaphosa’s SA future hangs in the balance

It was predicted to go badly but turned out to be worse: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC to its worst election result since the end of apartheid, one which threatens his survival.Returns from more than 99% of the polling stations used in Wednesday’s election showed ANC had barely scraped past 40% of the vote, a spectacular drop from the 57.5 it won in 2019.The shock result will prove a litmus test for Ramaphosa, a popular party figure with a reputation as a fine negotiator beneath his affable demeanour, political commentators say.ANC, a now divided movement that led the nation out of white-minority rule and into democracy, will remain the largest party in parliament but will lose its majority, heralding choppy uncharted waters for the party once led by Nelson Mandela.It will have to forge alliances to re-elect Ramaphosa at the end of the month and stay in power, with its hand forced into possible concessions with minnows it failed to beat in the election.But Ramaphosa will first have to persuade his party’s all powerful yet split National Executive Committee to keep him in the job.In 2022, his party lawmakers closed ranks around him at an impeachment vote over a scandal subbed “farmgate” that nearly cost him his job, when hundreds of thousands of dollars were reported stolen from a sofa in his country home.He was also re-elected the ANC president that same year in a race that looked closer than expected.“The party has rallied around him to a certain extent. There have been very high level comments saying ‘we are not going to recall Ramaphosa’,” said Christopher Vandome, senior research fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank.The 71-year-old former trade unionist and mines boss came into power in 2018 as a graft-busting saviour after the corruption-tainted tenure of predecessor Jacob Zuma.A fluent speaker of all of the country’s 11 official languages, he took up anti-apartheid activism while studying law in the 1970s and spent 11 months in solitary confinement in 1974.Preferred by Mandela as his heir, he stood alongside the liberation hero when he walked out of jail in 1990. But the farmgate case dealt a massive reputational blow to the wealthy businessman and for many the storied ANC has become synonymous with corruption.Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing.South Africans remain vexed by a prolonged water and electricity crisis that has put a drag on Africa’s most industrialised economy with crime and unemployment rates running high.Yet the lack of a formidable successor could keep Ramaphosa in power, author and analyst Susan Booysen said.“The irony is that there are no real alternatives in the ANC at this point,” she told AFP, adding that names that were being floated had “too much baggage, too many skeletons.” “In how I read the signals at this stage is Ramaphosa is surviving despite the dismal and disastrous performance of the ANC,” Booysen said.CALLS TO QUITWith no unifying candidate to take over from Ramaphosa, the choice of a bedfellow could prove the next hurdle.Data from the Independent Electoral Commission showed the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) held second place with 21.71%, slightly up on its 20.77 showing in 2019.But it was not the DA that dealt the decisive blow.In third place was former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) on 12.6%, a surprise score for a party founded just months ago as a vehicle for the former ANC chief.The ANC could have no choice but to co-opt the DA into a national coalition government, analysts say, describing it as Ramaphosa’s best bet for survival.“The DA will want to keep Ramaphosa in charge and would not want the other alternatives,” said Vandome.Booysen agreed.MIRACULOUS CANVASSING“The possible coalition partners don’t pose an alternative, don’t bring an alternative, charismatic, dynamic, popular president.” Zuma’s MK has vowed to play hard ball, ruling out any partnership talks if Ramaphosa remained at the helm of ANC. “We will engage with the ANC but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa,” spokesman Nhlamulo Ndhlela said.Ramaphosa’s future nonetheless hangs fragile, threatening to follow the footsteps of his predecessors Zuma and Thabo Mbeki, who did not complete their tenures and were forced out by the ANC. “That man did very well for the ANC. He led from the front,” said ANC deputy secretary general Nomvula Mokonyane, defending Ramaphosa’s record.“He did miraculous canvassing, criss-crossed the country. All those that are doing any speculation don’t know the ANC.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/683850/international/no-alternative-ramaphosas-sa-future-hangs-in-the-balance