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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A former freedom fighter was elected by Parliament on Thursday as South Africa’s president, but he is only expected to serve as a caretaker until a vote next year chooses ANC leader Jacob Zuma as his replacement.

South Africa’s Parliament, which elects the president from among its members and is dominated by the African National Congress, favored former trade unionist and freedom fighter Kgalema Motlanthe with 269 votes to 50 for the main opposition party’s nominee, Joe Seremane.

Motlanthe is replacing Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted as South Africa’s president in a power struggle within the governing party.

Motlanthe is seen as a caretaker leader until general elections next year, when Zuma is expected to become a legislator, then be chosen by Parliament as president.

Zuma, Mbeki’s rival, watched Thursday’s parliamentary vote from the public gallery. Zuma was not eligible for the presidency now because he is not a legislator.

At the announcement of the results, which reflected unity within the ANC despite the bruising battle between adherents of Mbeki and Zuma, members of Parliament rose to cheer. Motlanthe gave a two-thumbs up salute to the gallery. Later he briefly addressed the house in measured tones that reflected his reputation as a cool, no-nonsense politician.

“I am deeply humbled and honored by the faith and confidence that the members of this assembly have in me,” he said.

The festive mood at Thursday’s parliament session, with Chief Justice Pius Langa presiding in green robes, was in marked contrast to the tumultuous week in South African politics. ANC lawmakers sang anti-apartheid anthems and cheered when Motlanthe cast his vote.

Motlanthe was expected to name parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete as deputy president.

Mbeki did not attend the National Assembly session, and Cabinet ministers who have said they were leaving the government with him also were absent. They included the former deputy president and the defense minister, intelligence and prisons ministers. Other members of his team have said they would be willing to serve the next administration.

On Saturday, the ANC ordered Mbeki to quit before his presidential term was to end next year. The party, urged on by Zuma’s leftist allies, acted after a judge threw out a corruption case against Zuma on technical grounds and said that Zuma may have been a victim of Mbeki’s political machinations.

Amid the drama, the ANC struggled to assure South Africa and the world there was no reason to fear instability in Africa’s economic and diplomatic power house.

But the situation is fragile, as was clear Tuesday when Mbeki’s office announced that 13 ministers and three deputies had resigned from the 28-member Cabinet, among them the highly respected finance minister, Trevor Manuel.

South Africa’s stocks and currency reeled. Only later did it become clear that six of those who resigned, including Manuel, had already told the ANC they were willing to serve a new government.

Manuel was expected to be named to a new Cabinet later Thursday.

Zuma is seen as owing his rise in politics to support from labor, the South African Communist Party, and the ANC’s increasingly impatient youth wing. But Zuma has said repeatedly he does not plan a major departure from the free-market economic policies of Mbeki and Manuel. South Africa enjoyed unprecedented economic growth during Mbeki’s nine-year tenure, but critics say he did too little to ensure the new wealth trickled down to the black majority.

For all the uncertainty of recent days, some South Africans say this week’s smooth transition was a mark of the maturity of their democracy 14 years after the end of apartheid.

South Africans have been anticipating a shift from Mbeki to Zuma at least since December, when Zuma defeated the president in a party election for the ANC’s leadership.

Tony Leon, a leading member of the opposition Democratic Alliance, called the ANC ouster of Mbeki in December “brutal, but democratic,” and found reason for hope in the events following it that culminated with Thursday’s election.

“South Africa’s current uncertainty could, over time, lead to far less predictable and far more democratic political outcomes, not immediately, but certainly over time,” Leon said in a speech to university students in Cape Town Thursday. Muzi Sikhakhane, a Johannesburg attorney who was visiting Cape Town and among a handful of people who gathered outside parliament Thursday, said South Africans would “emerge from this stronger.”

But he added: “I hope that the new leaders are not just fighting for positions, that they are fighting in order to make our lives better.”

Steve Matomane, an 18-year-old student who also was in the crowd outside Parliament, criticized the way Mbeki was ousted. But he said he did not expect much change in the way his country would be governed.

“As South Africans we don’t have to panic,” he said. “I think Mr. Zuma will do a wonderful job because he was selected by the ANC and they believe in his ability, his capability.”

About 40 people demonstrated in support of Mbeki outside Parliament Thursday. (AP)

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