As vote counting picks up pace, political parties start picking apart poll results
Over 70% of the voting districts have been completed, with more than 10 million valid votes tallied.
The IEC's national results operation centre (ROC) at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Political parties are starting to talk frankly about the election results as counting starts to pick up pace.
Over 70% of the voting districts have been completed with more than 10 million valid votes tallied.
It's a lot further than where it started but there's still a bit to go before the end.
Around this time Thursday and the day before, it would generally start winding down at this time and the results centre would start to quieten down but Friday is a different story.
In part, that’s because the tallying is starting to pick up and no one wants to blink in case something is missed.
Some leaders are still making the rounds.
Rise Mzansi is only at 42,000 votes.
While Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi is upbeat, he admits that the competition was tough.
"We expect that once metros come in, the second-tier cities start coming in, then you're going to see an acceleration in the number of rules."
It's going to be a long night but we continue to bring you the latest.