The African National Congress (ANC) was soaring ahead of its rivals by Wednesday afternoon as nearly one-third of the votes were counted at the Independent Electoral Commission's election centre in Pretoria.

The party increased its lead by more than 500 000 votes within two hours as results streamed into the centre.

It had 4 795 172 of the 7 361 326 votes counted by 15:00.

A record 23 181 997 voters were registered to take part in the country's fourth democratic elections.

It was not yet clear exactly how many braved a cold snap and long queues on Wednesday to vote. The IEC's preliminary figures placed the turnout at 77%.

The Democratic Alliance lagged far behind the ANC with 1 214 658 votes.

However its official opposition status still seemed safe as the
126-day-old Congress of the People (Cope )garnered less than half of that, with 584 341 votes.

Cope's arrival has changed the face of politics in South Africa and contributed to Wednesday's elections being described as the most exciting since the end of apartheid.

Nationally, the Inkatha Freedom Party was in fourth place with
223 472 votes, the Independent Democrats (ID) following with 92 330 votes.

Creeping up on the ID was the UDM with 87 192 votes.

The Freedom Front Plus followed with 66 451 and the African
Christian Democratic Party with 54 567 votes.

Trailing the list were two newcomer parties, the A Party with
1 179 votes nationally, preceded by Women Forward with 1 793 votes.