Election results update: Vote count passes two million mark
The story as votes continue to be counted around the country is that the ruling ANC tally has dropped compared to the 2019 results.
As votes continue to be counted around the country, the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) support appears to have dropped considerably compared to its 2019 results.
In terms of the overall picture at 13:00 on Thursday, only 4 502 of 23 293 Voting Districts have completed counting (19.33%) with a total of 2 064 033 votes counted.
The ANC leads the way with 877 935 votes (43.10%), followed by the DA (508 529 votes for 24.97%) with the EFF in third (177 868 votes at 8.73%).
As a reminder, in the 2019 elections the ANC finished with 57.5% of the total vote.
KWAZULU-NATAL
In counting in KwaZulu-Natal, Jacob Zuma’s MK party has eaten into the ANC’s dominance and holds the lead at the time of publishing.
In 2019, the ANC recorded 54.52% of the total vote in KwaZulu-Natal, but was down at 21.34% in early counting this year with the MK party at 43.63%.
WESTERN CAPE
In the Western Cape, the early vote count suggests the Democratic Alliance (DA) will retain power.
The DA had 49.00% of the vote at last count, with the ANC on 22.13% and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) on 11.29%.
GAUTENG
In terms of Gauteng, the country’s biggest province in terms of voters, vote counting has been slow with only 12.16% counted to date.
The ANC have a marginal lead, but that picture is expected to change.
NOTE: These are early numbers and are NOT final. However, they do give a good indication of what the final count may reflect.