East London - The African National Congress (ANC) is set to remain the governing party in the Eastern Cape following Wednesday's general election.
By 9pm on Thursday, the ANC had garnered 1 095 664 votes (68.11%), the Democratic Alliance was on 266 660 (16.58%), while the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) were sitting at 122 063 votes (7.59%), with 83% of the vote counted.
In the 2014 general election, the ANC received 1.5 million votes.
The party's Eastern Cape chairman, Oscar Mabuyane, told African News Agency (ANA) that while he was happy with the party's progress thus far, he was not willing to place the cart before the horse. "I will wait for the final results," he said.
"We will be happy to be a majority because we have seen that these coalitions are not working. We cannot have a mix-up situation of people with different policy priorities," said Mabuyane.
DA provincial leader Nqaba Banga said the party would improve on previous election results this time round. "We will get better numbers than the previous elections and we are happy because that will help us put more pressure on ANC," said Banga.
The EFF has seen the biggest growth, with the party increasing its support from three to seven percent. It received an additional 37 000 votes on its 2014 tally of 75 776.
EFF Eastern Cape Treasurer Simcelile Rubela said they were happy with the growth. "It's a serious improvement. Obviously we have taken the UDM spot, but we are contesting to win, not just grow," said Rubela.
The province's final results are expected to be announced on Friday morning.