JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s main opposition party said Sunday a plan to join forces with another opposition group to challenge the ruling party in elections this year has collapsed, just five days after the leaders of the two groups held an upbeat news conference to announce they were merging their campaigns.

The sudden turnaround reflected the deep divisions within opposition ranks in South Africa, which has been led by the African National Congress, the chief liberation movement during white racist rule, since Nelson Mandela was elected president in South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994. Analysts expect the ruling party to win this year’s elections, though possibly with a smaller majority.