Almost 89% of votes in the local government elections have been captured, but major metros were still outstanding, chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said on Thursday.

“As at 2pm this afternoon 51 642 of the 58 158 results slips were already captured. This constitutes 88.8%of the results slips expected,” she said at the results operation centre in Pretoria.

Of these, 71% had been audited and released.

“A number of results in metropolitan councils are however still outstanding.... ,” she said.

Buffalo City had released 85%, Nelson Mandela Bay 99% and Ekurhuleni 95%.

Johannesburg was on 20%, Mangaung 50%, Tshwane 56%, Ethekwini 22%, and the City of Cape Town on 34%.

Tlakula said preliminary voter turnout was 56% and 2% of ballots were spoilt.

She emphasised, however, that this 8% increase in voter turnout from the previous election was preliminary, especially as the metro results were not yet in.

“It is too early for us to talk about voter turnout,” she said.

There had been no official objections to the results, although two parties had said they might lodge complaints, she said.

There would be a recount of votes in one of the wards in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.

The Independent Electoral Commission expected to complete capturing and validating results on Friday and declare the results on Saturday.