ANC still tracking below 45% on national ballot
Results continued to trickle into the IEC's national results operations centre in Midrand early on Friday morning.
Preliminary national results with 52% of voting districts completed had the ANC leading with 42%
The DA followed with 23%, while Jacob Zuma’s MK party was on 10% and the EFF on 9%.
The final results are not expected to be known before the weekend.
"The broad church of the ANC has taken a substantial knock. This is a shock to the system for the ANC and ultimately will also be a shock to the system for the average South African, who has only known ANC rule since 1994," said political analyst Daniel Silke.
"It redraws the political boundaries of South Africa and creates a degree of uncertainty".
If President Cyril Ramaphosa's party is confirmed as dropping below 50%, it will force him to seek coalition partners to be re-elected to form a new government.
IEC’s head, Sy Mamabolo, told a press conference that almost all votes had been counted by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, but most had yet to be validated.
While the process was “proceeding well”, officials said they expected it would take longer than the usual 24 hours to reach an 80% tally due to delays caused by the new three-ballot system.
