South Africa ? South African election results released today show the African National Congress might have fallen short of winning its cherished two-thirds parliamentary majority. But the tally affirmed the ruling party’s overall victory and set the stage for the controversial Jacob Zuma’s rise to the presidency.

The near-complete results also showed that the ANC lost power in the country’s richest province because of hostility from mixed-race voters.

Zuma’s supporters have been celebrating since shortly after the voting ended on Wednesday as his party’s victory wasn’t seriously in doubt.

The ANC views Zuma as the first leader who can energize voters since the legendary Nelson Mandela. But others say Zuma is too beholden to unions and leftists, and will not be able to fulfill his promises of creating jobs and a stronger social safety net. At the end of the campaign, Zuma was talking not about creating jobs, but staving off job losses.