Pretoria - The ANC has garnered 10 287 024 of the votes cast in the country’s fifth democratic elections, bringing its percentage of the votes to 62.50% early on Friday.
The main opposition, the Democratic Alliance, has clinched 22% of the votes after receiving 3 617 404 votes, followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters with 994 669 votes or 6.04%.
The Inkatha Freedom Party is fourth with 405 010 votes (2.46%), while the National Freedom Party has 1.63% after receiving 268 791 votes.
It is the first time the NFP is contesting the elections nationally. The two parties have KwaZulu-Natal as their stronghold.
The United Democratic Movement has 171 907 votes (1.04 %), and the Freedom Front Plus 152 739 votes (0.93 %). The UDM proved to be strong in Eastern Cape.
In the hotly contested province of Gauteng, the ANC is leading with 1 812 148 votes or 52.91%, with the DA following by 1 064 632 or 31 08%.
On Thursday the IEC said South Africa's fifth democratic election has seen the highest number of votes cast in the country's democratic history.
Over 18 million votes were expected to have been cast in this national election. This will exceed the 17.9 million votes cast in 2009 and the 15.5 million in 2004.
Mpumalanga was the second province where preliminary results were concluded on Thursday evening. The African National Congress achieved a landslide victory in the province, as it did in the Northern Cape.
The party also looks set to achieve a commanding victory in the Eastern Cape where it is leading with 1 555 747 votes (70.67%) at 7am. – SAnews.gov.za
