(Bloomberg) -- South African lawmakers elected Thoko Didiza, a member of the African National Congress and former agriculture minister, as the speaker of the National Assembly, and the Democratic Alliance’s Annelie Lotriet as her deputy.

The two got the most votes for the positions in the legislature’s first sitting since May 29 elections, which failed to produce an outright winner. The Economic Freedom Fighters nominated alternate candidates for both positions. 

The selections, presided over by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo in Cape Town on Friday, will be followed by a vote for the nation’s next president. The outcome helped shed light on how South Africa’s new government will take shape. 

Earlier Friday, parties including the ANC and the DA agreed to join a so-called government of national unity. Participants agreed to cooperate on appointing the president and officials in the national and provincial legislatures, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said.

The ANC — which lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades but still emerged as the biggest party with 40.2% support  — earlier this month invited all political parties to join the new administration, The leftist EFF and former President Jacob Zuma’s new uMkhonto weSizwe Party, or MKP, both declined. 

The ANC has 159 of the 400 seats in the legislature, the DA 87, the MKP 58, the EFF 39, the Inkatha Freedom Party 17 and the Patriotic Alliance nine. 

Didiza has served as minister of agriculture and land reform since 2019. She held the same position from 1999 to 2006, and was minister of public works from 2006 to 2008.

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--With assistance from Alister Bull and Monique Vanek.

(Updates with election of deputy speaker in first paragraph)

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