The African National Congress (ANC) emerged victorious on Saturday following the completion of vote counting in South Africa’s national and provincial elections held this week.
The final tally published by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) showed that the ruling party got 57.5 percent of the popular vote following Wednesday national and provincial elections.
This was however lower than the 62.1 percent the party got in the previous elections held in 2014.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) received 20.77 percent while the militant Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) got 10.79 percent of the vote.
This means that the DA slipped in terms of the percentage of total votes that it received this time around, having managed to garner 22.2 percent in the 2014 poll.
The EFF emerged the ultimate winner among the top three political parties, having increased its support base from 6.4 percent five years ago to 10.79 percent.
The outcome means the ANC will have majority vote in the national assembly declining to around 230 from the 249 seats it secured in 2014.
In terms of the provincial elections, the ANC claimed all but one of the nine provincial assemblies. The DA retained its stranglehold of Western Cape Province while the ruling party took charge of the other eight provinces.
The official declaration of the results is expected at 6pm (1600 GMT).
NM/jn/APA