June 14, 1999
Web posted at: 10:51 a.m. EDT (1451 GMT)

PRETORIA, South Africa (CNN) -- Thabo Mbeki, long groomed as the successor to Nelson Mandela, was formally elected president of South Africa by the country's parliament Monday.

"The nomination is in order and, in accordance with the constitution, I accordingly declare Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki duly elected as president of the Republic of South Africa," Constitutional Court President Arthur Chaskelson said.

Mbeki was elected by the 400-seat National Assembly, meeting for the first time since the June 2 general election that saw Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) returned to power for a second five-year term with an overwhelming majority.

Mbeki will be inaugurated on Wednesday, and is to name his Cabinet on Thursday.

His election was not opposed by the official opposition Democratic Party, the liberal and mainly white party that was a distant runner-up to the ANC in the second all-race election.

Mandela will officially be president until Wednesday's inauguration. A month shy of his 81st birthday, he is retiring from active politics, but despite his ambition to lead a quiet life, he is likely to be in high demand as Africa's elder statesman.

Earlier, the 400 legislators, dressed in saris, colorful headwraps, embroidered tunics and business suits, took the oath of office themselves before Chaskelson.

Mbeki and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Mandela's former wife, were among the first group sworn in.

The ANC won 266 seats in the June 2 election, only the second national vote in which all races were allowed to cast ballots since the fall of apartheid, or all-white rule, in 1994.

Mbeki, who turns 57 on Friday, has been effectively running the country for the past several years as deputy president, after a long career in the ANC as an organizer, administrator and negotiator with the white government.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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