Pretoria – The Electoral Commission said on Friday that 97.62% of the national vote in the fifth democratic elections had been counted by lunch.

It said that 21 734 of the 22 263 voting districts had been counted.

Out of the 17 788 485 votes counted so far, 17 546 070 were valid.

Nationally there were 24 269 962 people registered.

The African National Congress was leading with more than 10 million votes so far, which represented 62.26%.

The Democratic Alliance was in second spot with 3 889 949 (22.17%) and newcomer the Economic Freedom Fighters was third with just over a million votes.-Sapa