Jacob Zuma to become president

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) swept general elections with just short of two-thirds of the vote, the final count showed yesterday, putting party leader Jacob Zuma at the threshold to the presidency.

Zuma, 67, is now certain to become president when the new parliament convenes early next month to elect the head of state, riding a wave of support from the poor who backed his pledges to create more jobs and expand the social safety net as the economy is slipping into recession.

The ANC took 65.9 per cent of the vote, giving the former liberation movement 264 seats in the 400-member parliament, the electoral commission announced amid a shower of confetti in the national counting centre.

"The people have spoken," Zuma said in a written message to his supporters. "They have voted for a better future for all, for decent work, quality education, access to health care, safer communities and rural development," he said.

"Now we must get down to work to implement this mandate for faster change. Working together we will build a South Africa of expanding opportunity for all, a nation united in its diversity, at peace with itself and the world."

But the ANC fell two seats short of the two-thirds super-majority needed to change the constitution, which it had easily won in 2004, while opposition parties made some headway in expanding their national support base.

The opposition Democratic Alliance won 67 seats, while the upstart Congress of the People or COPE, which broke away from the ANC late last year, landed third with 30 seats.

Zuma was set to speak later in the evening to formally declare victory.

The ANC also swept the provincial elections, except for the Western Cape which is home to Cape Town, where the Democratic Alliance (DA) won a majority for the first time.

But the ANC edged out the Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party in its stronghold of KwaZulu-Natal province, winning a majority for the first time in the region that was the scene of deadly inter-party clashes ahead of the first elections in 1994.

The voter turnout was estimated at about 77 per cent.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Zuma to congratulate him on his party's success, a spokesman in London said, to show "our desire to work closely with the new South African government."

The African Union declared the election free and fair in a preliminary report commending the smooth conduct of the elections.

Zuma has experienced massive support from his mainly working-class devotees who hope the populist leader is their ticket to improved public services and more jobs.