An official empties a ballot box as counting begins at the Addington Primary School in Durban. Rajesh Jantilal/ AFP

South Africa’s ANC was leading in early official results on Thursday following the first electoral test of whether President Cyril Ramaphosa has reinvigorated support for the ruling party.

With just over a fifth of voting districts tallied, the Election Commission count put the African National Congress ahead, with its closest rival the Democratic Alliance trailing at a distant 26 per cent.

Ramaphosa, 66, took over last year after the African National Congress (ANC) forced then-president Jacob Zuma to resign after nine years dominated by corruption allegations and economic problems.

The party that wins the most seats in parliament selects the country’s president, who will be sworn in on May 25.

“The outcome of this election will be a major boost for investors... and investor confidence, it’s about confidence and about the future,” Ramaphosa said after voting on Wednesday.

The ANC’s reputation was badly sullied under Zuma.

“We apologise for our mistakes.”

Support for the ANC has fallen in every election since 2004 with the party taking 54 per cent in 2016 municipal elections, compared with 62 per cent in 2014’s national vote.

Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) were swept to power with a landslide in the country’s first multi-racial polls that marked the end of apartheid in 1994.

Most opinion surveys suggest the ANC will secure nearly 60 per cent of the vote, thanks to Ramaphosa’s appeal and a fractured opposition.

Dirk Coetzee, a professor at UNISA’s political science department, said “the higher the per centage for the ANC, the more it will give him (Ramaphosa) bargaining power.”

“If Ramaphosa gets below 50 per cent he will be very vulnerable” to challenges from rivals within the ANC, he added.

The poor are getting poorer

The ANC has been confronted by deepening public anger over its failure to tackle poverty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.

“We have given them 25 years but the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer,” said voter Anmareth Preece, 28, a teacher from Coligny in North West province. “We need a government that governs for the people, not for themselves.”

The economy grew just 0.8 per cent in 2018 and unemployment hovers around 27 per cent — soaring to over 50 per cent among young people.

Of the 47 opposition parties in the race, only the main opposition centrist DA and the radical-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are major players.

The DA is hoping to shed its image as a white, middle-class party.

Its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, is contesting his maiden general election since taking the helm in 2015, and is expected to make modest gains on the DA’s 2014 vote share of 22 per cent.

The EFF, founded six years ago by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, is predicted to make major gains, growing from 6.3 per cent to a forecast 11 per cent. The partial results show it at eight per cent.

“The ANC has taken people for granted. There is some arrogance which has crept in,” said voter Mandla Booi, 45, in Port Elizabeth on the south coast.

The EFF, which appeals mainly to young voters and the poor, has campaigned on a policy of seizing land from white owners to give to blacks.

Enforced land redistribution is also ANC policy — alarming some investors.

About 26.8 million voters were registered to cast their ballots at 22,925 polling stations countrywide.

Agence France-Presse