Pretoria, May 8 (IANS): South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) has taken a lead Thursday as counting of votes cast in the country's general elections began, media reported.
With 31 percent of votes counted, the ANC is leading with over 2,870,576 votes (59.72 percent) nationally, SA News reported.
The ANC was followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 1,276,514 (26.56 percent) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 204,856 (4.26 percent).
The turnout in Wednesday's polling was just over 72 percent, with about 25 million people registered to vote at 22,000 polling stations across South Africa, the South African Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
The 2014 general elections were the fifth elections held in the country under conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of apartheid in 1994.
These will also be the first elections without the presence of the father of South African democracy, Nelson Mandela, who passed away Dec 5, 2013, at the age of 95.
Another significant aspect of the May 7 polls will be that the 'born-frees' -- those born after South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994 -- cast their votes for the first time.