Pretoria - As the sun rose on Friday morning, two days after the country's fourth democratic local government elections, the results showed the African National Congress's (ANC) support seemed stable, while the opposition, Democratic Alliance (DA) may be set for its best performance yet.
At about 7 am data showed the gap between the number of votes obtained by the ANC and the DA nationally widened. The ANC garnered 61.7 percent with the DA lagging at number two by 24.3 percent of counted votes so far.
At the third spot was the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) with 3.6 percent, followed by the new kid on the block, the National Freedom Party (NFP) with 2.3 percent of the votes. Embattled Congress of the People (COPE) came in fifth with 2.2 percent.
In Gauteng, the ANC received 60.13 percent of the votes, with the DA at 33.11 percent followed by COPE with 1.08 percent. Other smaller parties were not making any impact.
In the City of Joburg, the ANC was leading with 58.56 percent followed by the DA with 34.62 percent. In Tshwane, the ANC had 55.11 percent of the votes while the DA had 38.87 percent.
The DA continued to cling onto the Western Cape - the only province that is led by the party. The DA garnered 57.79 percent of the votes in the province.
It's a two-horse race between the ANC and the DA while other parties contesting the elections are hardly making an impact. The ANC tried to breakthrough the Western Cape but its 33.22 percent makes it second followed by COPE with 1.97 percent.
Data showed that in Port Elizabeth (PE), which includes the highly contested Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, the ANC was leading, followed by DA. It was a tight arm-wrestling match with the ANC at 51.91 percent while the DA was closely behind with 40.13 percent. The DA had identified the metro as its next target after snatching Cape Town from the ANC through a coalition government in the 2006 municipal elections.
In the Eastern Cape, the ANC was leading with 73.45 percent of the votes. The ANC's take of the ballots stood at 58.22 percent of the votes in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality and the DA with 35.45 percent.
The IFP is leading the Nkandla Municipality, which is the traditional home of President Jacob Zuma, with 45.97 percent. The ANC came in second with 41.30 percent of the votes and a total of 11 seats. New kid on the block, breakaway party from the IFP, the NFP had 12.38 percent of the votes and a total of 3 seats.
However throughout KZN, the ANC led with 55.35 percent while the IFP came in second with 19.26 percent. The NFP came in with 12.05 percent of the votes.
In Limpopo, the ANC was clearly leading with 81.62 percent of the votes, while the DA had 6.60 percent, followed by COPE at 3.80 percent and PAC with 1.32 percent.
In the North West, the ANC stood at 74.99 percent and the DA at 16.14 percent.
In Mpumalanga, which recorded the lowest voter turnout, the ANC stood at 78.92 percent followed by the DA at 13.83 percent and COPE at 1.14 percent.
In the Northern Cape, the ANC stood at 63.97 percent with the DA came in at 22.27 percent of the votes.
Just before 8 am, different party officials reported for duty at their allocated desks at the results centre. Some clearly had an early start while the tiredness could tell that the adrenalin was making it hard for them to call it a day and get some sleep.
At the center of this year's campaign was each party's respective record of delivering services such as water, electricity, housing, health and education, something hundreds in poor rural areas still go without.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) hopes to declare the final results by Saturday.
