More than 3-million votes had been counted in the national elections by 08:30 on Thursday morning.

The results, which put the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in a commanding lead with 2 078 352 votes, were released at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) centre in Pretoria.

A total of 3 304 062 votes had been counted.

But it is still not known how many of the 23 181 997 registered voters turned out at polling stations.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) was trailing behind in second place, taking 636 637 of the votes counted thus far.

In third place was the newly formed Congress of the People, which is only 126 days old, with 251 200 votes.

The Inkatha Freedom Party took fourth position with 86 503 votes followed by the Independent Democrats with 54 852.

The Freedom Front Plus followed with 39 055 votes, while the A
Party trailed in last with 572 votes.

In the provincial election results, the ANC was leading in eight out of nine provinces. The DA was ahead in the Western Cape with 287 185 of the votes and the ANC tailing it with 147 616 votes.