ANC LEADS IN S. AFRICAN POLL !

ANC leads in South African poll

Jacob Zuma looks poised to take the country's highest office

Early results have given South Africa's ANC a big lead in the general election, paving the way for controversial party leader Jacob Zuma to become president.

Supporters were invited to celebrate, though results suggest the ANC will fall short of the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional amendments.

With a third of votes counted, it had 65% to 18% for its nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The newly formed Congress of the People (Cope) was being given just 8%.

A Cope leader was shot dead but the vote appeared otherwise peaceful.

The final, official results will not be known for days but the margin of the ANC's victory may become clearer later on Thursday.

Charges of corruption against Mr Zuma were dropped just two weeks before the poll after state prosecutors said there had been political interference in the case.

With parliament electing the president, it looks likely that an ANC-controlled assembly will emerge to pick Mr Zuma as the country's leader next month.

Cape upset

ANC supporters were invited to celebrate the result on Thursday afternoon in the Library Gardens area of Johannesburg.

RESULTS SO FAR ANC: 65% Democratic Alliance: 18% Cope: 8% Polling stations declared: 35% Turnout: 77% Source: IEC In pictures: South Africa votes The shape of a Zuma presidency

"The ANC invites fellow South Africans to attend this celebration to share the joy of having achieved a strong mandate to consolidate the gains made during the past 15 years," the party said in a statement.

Monday's poll was the country's fourth, and most competitive, general election since the end of apartheid 15 years ago.

Turnout was comparable to the last general election in 2004, when it was 76% and the ANC won 70% of the vote.

Voting was extended in some areas because of the long queues and a shortage of some polling materials.

Results are still expected from many big townships, where the ANC is expected to do well, but the party appears to have suffered a reverse in the area around Cape Town.

With many votes still to be counted, it is already clear that half of the Western Cape province's voters have opted for the DA, led by Helen Zille.

This is a considerable setback for Mr Zuma whose party has controlled all the country's nine provinces until now and could justifiably claim to speak for all parts of South Africa, BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut reports.

It is now clear that the DA will take this province even if it has to do so in coalition with another party, he adds.

Ms Zille is already mayor of Cape Town and draws much of her support from the area's large white and mixed-race communities.

Before the election, she urged South Africans to vote to prevent the ANC retaining its two-thirds majority, saying the party might then change the constitution to prevent new charges being brought against Mr Zuma.

Mr Zuma has always denied having any such plans.

In Eastern Cape province, where Cope was expected to do well, the new party was being given just 11% of the vote.

JACOB ZUMA Served 10 years for ANC membership during apartheid era Regarded as a populist who appeals to the left Dogged by corruption and sex scandals Aged 66; Zulu; known popularly as JZ; has at least two wives Profile: Jacob Zuma

A Cope official in the province, Gerlad Yona, was shot and mortally wounded when three armed men attacked his home, a party spokesman said.

Nkosifikile Gqomo said the party believed the attack was linked to politics.

Cope was formed by ANC dissidents who supported former President Thabo Mbeki, who resigned last year after losing a power struggle with Mr Zuma.

Many of the new voters were young people who had little memory of the struggle to end white minority rule, which brought the ANC to power.

"We are entering a post-liberation era," independent political analyst David Monyae told Reuters news agency.

"People are talking about new issues and challenges and there's also a new generation that's not attached to the liberation struggle."

Mr Mbeki has denied accusations that his government used the courts to try and prevent his rival rising to the presidency.

Mr Zuma was also charged with rape but acquitted in 2006.

Analysts say Cope's emergence energised the early stages of the election campaign but the party's popularity seems to have diminished in recent weeks.

Cope fielded a relatively unknown presidential candidate, former Bishop Mvume Dandala who, analysts say, has struggled to make an impact.

Some say the real battle is between Cope and the Democratic Alliance for second place, which the DA seems to have won.

Analysts say the two parties could enter into a coalition after the election, which could present a real threat to the ANC's continued dominance of South Africa.

BBC NEWS REPORT.