Jacob Zuma poised to be next South African president

Jacob Zuma is on course to be confirmed as South Africa's next president today as latest election results show the African National Congress (ANC) extending its lead.

With more than a quarter of the votes counted, the ANC has a 66.5% share, representing 7.2m ballots cast in its favour.

It is well clear of the Democratic Alliance on 16%, with a new party, the Congress of the People (Cope), third on 7.6%. But the ANC's bid to retain its two-thirds majority in parliament remains on a knife edge.

As results continued to pour in at the election nerve centre in Pretoria, it was a bad day for the Inkatha Freedom party, led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, which has seen its vote squeezed by Zuma in KwaZulu-Natal province.

The DA enjoyed a minor triumph when it won 52 votes on Robben Island, compared with the ANC's 50, in its first election victory there since the end of apartheid.

The results followed the most exciting election day since the dawn of democracy in South Africa. There were long queues at voting stations yesterday and a celebratory mood reminiscent of the first multiracial elections in 1994.

With turnout high there was frustration as some polling stations ran out of ballot papers and boxes. Election officials insisted no one was turned away without being allowed to vote.

Zuma, given a clear run at the presidency this month when corruption charges against him were dropped, cast his vote at Ntolweni primary school in Nkandla as supporters sang his signature anthem, Umshini Wam, which means Bring Me My Machine Gun.

"Never did I think as I was growing up here that one day I would cast my vote here as I am doing," said Zuma, a 67-year-old veteran of the struggle against apartheid. "It must be great, feeling the difference from the olden days to where we are today, when we can decide our own fate."

There were tears among supporters young and old as Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, stepped out of his car to vote in Johannesburg. Mandela, 90, braving the morning chill in a winter overcoat, walked with a silver cane as hundreds strained to photograph him.

Many voters were wrapped in blankets, hats and scarves as queuing began before sunrise. The impressive turnout suggested renewed enthusiasm for the democratic process as the governing ANC faced a new challenge. Cope, a breakaway group of ANC members loyal to the former president Thabo Mbeki, has been described as the first credible alternative for black voters.

Casting his vote, the former archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "The vote is still a wonderful thing, but for most people there's more heart-searching this time. It is no longer a foregone thing to vote for the ANC and you have to make decisions that go against your inclinations."

Election officials claimed the system ran smoothly with some setbacks. There were concerns that voters had been turned away after polling stations ran short of ballot papers and boxes. The ANC expressed anxiety at the delays and Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, branded the situation "a farce", saying the electoral commission "couldn't run a bath".

The commission blamed a last-minute rule change that allowed people to vote at stations other than where they were registered. It said 58m ballot papers had been printed for 23 million registered voters and they had been redistributed where necessary. "Most of the hiccups are little problems," said the commission's chairman, Brigalia Bam. "We must not exaggerate this issue and make it bigger than it is."

Some voters complained they queued for as long as eight hours.

The election passed without the violent flashpoints some had predicted. But a Cope official in Eastern Cape was shot dead at his home by three gunmen. In Ulundi, near Zuma's home in KwaZulu-Natal, a presiding officer was arrested and charged with fraud after she was found with marked ballot papers.

The prevailing mood, however, remained one of excitement, novelty and empowerment in a country where until 15 years ago black people were denied the right to vote.

In Johannesburg's Soweto township, once the heart of the anti-apartheid struggle, Zwelibanzi Zuneu, 23, was voting for the first time. "I voted for the ANC because of what it's done for us in the past," he said. "If it wasn't for the organisation I don't think we'd be voting at all."

Soweto, scene of the 1976 student uprising, now boasts bars and restaurants, business parks and a large shopping mall. There was a steady flow of voters – including Mandela's ex-wife, the ANC candidate Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – at the polling station at Orlando West high school, off Vilakazi Street, where Nelson Mandela and Tutu once lived.

Lindi Hleza, 37, a cleaner, came with her three-year-old son Vezokuhle to vote for the ANC. "My life has improved a lot under them, but there are some things left to be done," she said. "Instead of paying people for not working, they should create more jobs. But I'm optimistic for my son. I think he will grow up in a better country."

In a reminder of the severe hardships that remain, however, about 200 protesters in the impoverished Alexandra township refused to vote. One said: "Until they give us a house, I won't vote for them."

Mbeki, who dismissed Zuma as deputy president in 2005 only to be ousted as president last year, remained tight-lipped amid speculation that he had turned against his own party at the polls. "People should vote for who they want, not out of fear but for the party they believe will deliver," he said.

South Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, cast his vote in Cape Town and told reporters he believed the country's democracy would be healthier because of the split in the ANC. "I think our situation becomes more competitive," he said. link...