Nokukhanya Mntambo31 May 2024 | 14:27

Some political parties hoping results from metros will provide major boost in final count

National general manager of operations at the IEC, Granville Abrahams, said that the country’s metros could still tip the scales.

Some political parties hoping results from metros will provide major boost in final count

The national IEC results operations centre at Gallagher Estate, Midrand, on 30 May 2024. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News

MIDRAND - The metros in parts of the country are expected to be the game changers as some political parties pin their hopes on the final count.

About 65% of the voting districts have been accounted for, giving the African National Congress (ANC) a lead of 3.8 million votes.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is trailing behind with half of that, while the MK Party now ranks third, with over a million votes.

While the IEC continues to count votes, political parties are making calculations of their own behind closed doors.

Some have best- and worst-case scenarios already in mind.

While there are some guesses about how things will play out, the vote tally is still far from complete.

National general manager of operations at the IEC, Granville Abrahams, said that the country’s metros could still tip the scales.

"It is here that voting went into the early hours of Thursday so we finished voting last, so we will finish counting last and it’s no coincidence that we are getting that results in last."

The ANC hopes votes in the eThekwini metro will help push its numbers up in KwaZulu-Natal after Jacob Zuma's MK Party took an early and unexpected lead in the province.