Two days after millions of South Africans cast ballots in the most closely watched elections since the nation’s first democratic vote in 1994, the chief whip of the ruling African National Congress party got up early Friday morning to explain its worst showing in 22 years.

Wearing a black jacket emblazoned with the ANC logo of a spear and shield, Jackson Mthembu sat in front of reporters, microphones and TV cameras and pondered where the party once led by Nelson Mandela had gone wrong.

By Friday afternoon, with 98 percent of results counted, the ANC had won about 54 percent of the vote.

For some parties, that would be reason to celebrate, but for the ANC, which has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid, it was grim news, even though it was only a local election. That new low in the party’s national support — and the fact the party was on track to lose its controlling majority in three major cities — made it clear that the ANC’s undisputed dominance in South African politics is over.

“We must then look ourselves in the eye and say, ‘What happened?’ ” said Mthembu, speaking to local news group News24. “We don’t believe that any of the organizations that are on offer in South Africa have a better solution than the African National Congress,” he said. “If we do have the better solution, what went wrong?”

For millions of South Africans who voted for those other organizations, the answer is plenty. Many South Africans say they are fed up with the country’s high unemployment (currently over 26 percent), poor administration and the scandals that have dogged the presidency of Jacob Zuma. In Alexandra, a township in Johannesburg where the ANC’s beloved leader Mandela once lived, black voters who had supported the party for years said they had finally given up and wanted to see whether another group could do better.

Though the ANC has maintained control of most municipalities, the country’s two largest opposition parties — the centrist Democratic Alliance and the newer, smaller, ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters — made significant inroads particularly in cities. According to preliminary results, the DA was set to take about 26 percent of the national vote and the EFF about 8 percent.

While they may end up in tricky coalitions, they have an opportunity that could change the nation’s political landscape. With only three years to go before the next general elections, the DA and EFF have a short but significant window to perform well in their newly won areas and chip away at the ANC’s share of the vote in 2019.

“The leadership of the ANC is running around like headless chickens,” delighted EFF leader Julius Malema said at a news conference Friday, ditching the party’s revolutionary red uniform for a plaid shirt and jacket. “There is no contract between politicians and the voter that says, ‘Till death do us part.’ The tables have turned.”

Whether the DA and EFF will deliver on the ANC’s broken promises and bring more jobs, cheaper power, cleaner streets and more accountable public servants to residents in their new jurisdictions is hard to say. But few would argue that a more robust opposition is bad news for this young democracy.

Whether the ANC is capable of addressing what went wrong internally is another open question. Many say this week’s results are a direct rebuke of Zuma, whose popularity among urban voters in particular has been sinking as his administration has lurched from crisis to crisis. Though prominent ANC stalwarts have publicly called for his resignation this year, the party leadership has continued to back him and has shown little appetite for public introspection, making Mthembu’s comments Friday morning all the more unusual.

“The voters have responded to the arrogance of my organization,” said Mavuso Msimang, an ANC veteran and chairman of Corruption Watch, a civil society group.

Though ANC support remained strong in rural areas where people are more reliant on government services, he said, black voters in cities are increasingly rejecting the party. For the party to understand why and orchestrate a meaningful reversal before 2019, its leaders need to examine the results, understand the national mood and make an honest diagnosis, Msimang said.

“It’s quite clear now the change will have to be comprehensive. Am I positive this is going to happen? Not really,” he said. “We will all be working toward that change.” But he added, “I think things are going to get worse.”

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Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world