The African National Congress still had the most supporters of all the political parties in the country, a SABC/Markinor survey found.

The survey results, which were released yesterday, showed that the ANC had 64% support amongst the people expected to vote in the upcoming election.

"Amongst eligible voters, almost six out of every ten intend to support the ANC in the 2004 national election...," Markinor said in a media release.

"However, support for the ruling party among those expected to vote rises to 64%".

The party with the second most support was the Democratic Alliance, with ten per cent.

The New National Party (NNP) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) were both third with four per cent support.

"It is clear that there are no serious contenders for the ANC's position and the party remains largely unchallenged.

"The DA retains its position as the official opposition with one in ten South African votes, and the two other significant parties, the IFP and NNP, tie at around four per cent of the ballot each".

The survey found that one in ten South Africans had not decided which party to vote for.

The survey asked two further questions of South Africans - whether they wanted to vote and whether they were likely to vote.

"If we take only those with a positive response to these questions into account, 23,1-million voters, or about 85% of those eligible to vote, indicated that they will vote – they wanted to vote, and were likely to vote".

The group of undecided voters mainly lived in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng, in either metropolitan or deep rural areas.

More women were undecided than men.

The survey also looked at the profiles of parties' supporters.

It found that the ANC's support was stronger among the youth, people with less education and lower incomes. The party had 94% black supporters of which 75 percent was unemployed.

The provinces in which the party had the most support were Limpopo Province, the North West and the Free State.

Its weakest areas were the Western and Northern Cape and KwaZulu/Natal.

In these provinces the NNP and IFP had the strongest support base respectively.

DA supporters tended to be older South Africans with jobs and with matric or a tertiary qualification.

"More than two-thirds of DA supporters are white, and support is stronger among higher income groups.

"The DA is best represented in Gauteng and the Northern and Western Cape, and the party is the most exposed in the North West and Limpopo Provinces.

"Two thirds of DA supporters live in metropolitan areas and, interestingly, half are Afrikaans speakers, with one in three stating English as home language". The profile of IFP supporters resembled that of ANC supporters - most were black, unemployed with lower incomes and lower levels of education.

The NNP was mostly supported by women of whom 25% were older than 50.

A third of the parties' supporters were white, while 45% were coloured.

Two-thirds of the supporters gave Afrikaans as their home language.

Provincial survey results showed that it was possible for the ANC to claim all the provinces in the provincial ballot.

The survey was conducted from 21 October to 18 November last year and 3 500 respondents were used. Face to face interviews were conducted and those interviewed were of voting age. – Sapa.