Voters in Pretoria line up Wednesday to cast ballots in South Africa's second all-race elections  ELECTION RESULTS: With 43 percent of voting districts reporting: African National Congress 57% Democratic Party 15% The New National Party 12% Inkatha Freedom Party 8% Source: AP RELATED VIDEO CNN Johannesburg Bureau Chief Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports that the elections went smoothly Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Nelson Mandela bids farewell  MESSAGE BOARD: South Africa elections

June 3, 1999
Web posted at: 12:41 a.m. EDT (0441 GMT)

In this story: Turnout estimated at more than 85 percent 'Looking into the future' ANC aimed for two-thirds majority RELATED STORIES, SITES

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Ballot results trickled in early Thursday following South Africa's second consecutive national, all-race election since the fall of apartheid, a vote virtually certain to hand the ruling African National Congress another term in power.

With 43 percent of voting districts reporting, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) had 57 percent; the Democratic Party, 15 percent; The New National Party, successor to the ruling party under apartheid, 12 percent; and Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party, 8 percent. Smaller parties divided the rest.

Significant unofficial results were expected sometime early Thursday, and the Independent Election Commission said it could take days to get official results.

Thousands remained in line even after the polling stations closed at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Wednesday, but election officials said everyone who arrived before the deadline would still be allowed to vote.

Chief Electoral Officer Mandla Mchunu said preliminary estimates put turnout at more than 85 percent of the country's 18.2 million registered voters.

"It's a very wonderful occasion to be able to vote," said outgoing President Nelson Mandela, who was elected in 1994. "It gives me a wonderful feeling. The feeling is not as intense as it was in 1994, because I was exercising this right for the first time. But now, I am comparatively relaxed."

The 80-year-old Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years for his activism against apartheid, is retiring from political life. The newly-elected National Assembly will select his successor -- almost assured to be Deputy President Thabo Mbeki -- on June 14, and the new president will be sworn in two days later.

Mbeki said Wednesday's voting would be "free and fair."

"Indeed this ... demonstrates the commitment to a democratic system," he said, "the commitment for people to choose a government that they like without fear of intimidation, without being forced in any way."

Absent on voting day was the violence that plagued the previous election that ended white minority rule. Long lines -- though not as long as in 1994 -- queued into 14,650 polling stations under the watchful eyes of 100,000 police and soldiers deployed to keep the peace.

Tension surfaced, however, as the polling deadline approached. Fights broke out, and a surging crowd in a Cape Town slum broke the windows of a church used as a polling station.

Some polling stations opened late, ballot papers did not arrive in time or ran out, poll officials handed out the wrong type of ballots and several ANC poll workers were accused of intimidating rival party supporters.

But overall, elections officials said voting went smoothly. No major election-related violence was reported by evening, said security minister Sidney Mufamadi.

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In rural areas, voters began to line up as early as six hours ahead of the start of balloting.

In Sharpeville -- scene of the apartheid era's worst massacre -- many voters said they came to the polls in part to honor the memories of the 69 people killed in 1960 when police fired on demonstrators protesting apartheid laws.

"My uncle died here," said Mpiwakhe Khumalo. "There is still no way the sadness could go, but by me voting, I am taking my country forward. I am looking into the future."

"The elections should give us hope," said Joseph Mpholo, a 31-year-old policeman on duty at the old police station where the massacre occurred. "People who died here were fighting for a just cause which we have to protect."

With opinion polls showing the ANC far ahead, two questions remained to be resolved by the election: whether or not the ruling party would pull two-thirds of the vote, giving it the power to amend South Africa's constitution, and which of 15 other parties would take second place and become the ANC's official opposition.

Pre-election polls showed the ANC garnering between 59 percent and 69 percent of the vote. It won with 62.5 percent in 1994.

The New National Party and the Democratic Party, which between them can claim the support of most whites, were vying for second place with polls giving each around 8 percent.

The dark horse candidate appeared to be the fledgling United Democratic Movement. The party was forged from a union between ANC renegade Bantu Holomisa, former military ruler of the apartheid-era black Transkei homeland, and former National Party strategist Roelf Meyer.

Up to 15 percent of South Africa's registered voters were still unsure who to vote for when the last surveys were conducted in April.

Johannesburg Bureau Chief Charlayne Hunter-Gault, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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