Early runaway lead for DA in the Western Cape

The DA has a runaway lead in the Western Cape thus far, with 57% of the province's votes counted by 8am on Thursday marked in its favour.

This is based on 42% of voting districts in the province having finalised their results.

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Despite intensive campaigning by the ANC, it had, by the same time, accumulated about 27% of the provincial vote and former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s party, Good, shot in at third place, with just over 3% of the overall vote tally.

The EFF is a close fourth, with 2.9% from the votes counted in 661 districts that have been completed.

Meanwhile, in Gauteng, with 13.61% of voting districts having completed their tallies, the ANC is just slightly over a 50% majority, with almost 200 000 votes in its favour. The DA has accumulated 26.5% and the EFF 13.72%, bringing the contest for South Africa’s economic hub to a close race.

The national poll, with 22.91% of votes counted, shows the ANC with a 54.65% majority and the DA in second place, with 26.49%. The EFF is still under 10% nationally (8.07%).

These numbers are based on the 2.7 million votes which had, by 8am, been validated.