ANC heads for landslide in South African elections

The African National Congress is on course for a landslide in South Africa's general election, allowing the party's controversial leader, Jacob Zuma, to become the country's first Zulu president when the new parliament votes next month.

At 77 per cent, turn-out today was comparable with the last general election and in some areas voting had to be extended by hours because of long queues and a shortage of materials.

With half the ballots counted, the ruling party appears to have won 66 per cent of the vote. The Congress of the People, a new party founded by members of the ANC unhappy at the way former president Thabo Mbeki was forced to step down last year after losing a power struggle with Zuma, has managed to poll only eight per cent.

Zuma thanked flag-waving ANC activists at the party's Johannesburg HQ, saying: "This party is an elephant. You cannot actually topple an elephant." Dressed in a bomber jacket, and leading the crowd in singing liberation hymns, he promised a full-scale celebration when official results are published on Friday.

One factor spoiled Zuma's day: the loss of the Western Cape province to the Democratic Alliance (DA). The white-led DA appeared to take the affluent province on the back of a big shift among 'coloured' (mixed-race) voters from their normal party of choice, the Independent Democrats, and disaffection with the ANC.

Overall, however, the ANC was delighted with the results, according to the party's secretary-general Gwede Mantashe. "We have been talking about a decisive victory, which we think is in sight," he said, adding that the party had no plans to change the South African constitution even if it achieves the two-thirds parliamentary majority that would allow this.

The Democratic Alliance had been warning voters that Zuma, who was facing corruption charges until two weeks ago, might seek to change the constitution to prevent further charges being brought against him.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Editorial, the Guardian: Many South Africans worry about Zuma. This is a man who has said he believed a shower after sex with an HIV-positive woman would stop him contracting the virus. All these concerns are heightened by his lack of substance on policy issues. He has twice called for a referendum on the death penalty, for example, while other ANC officials have sneered that the party would campaign against such an idea. Thus yesterday's vote was at once a proud moment in South Africa's young democracy (at the time of writing 80 per cent of the 23 million voters were expected to turn up) and a bitter one too. The party of liberation, the ANC, had lost its shine. We are just another country now, with ominous clouds gathering.

Editorial, the Times, South Africa: After years of distant leadership from above, the people have risen up and reclaimed their place in the political life of our country. The government that is formed after this election will truly belong to all. And, it will be held to account by a reinvigorated opposition and a Parliament that will be freed from some of the centralist shackles of the Thabo Mbeki era. All of this bodes well for South Africa, which has spent recent years deeply divided and engaged in the worst kind of political intrigue. ·