ANC heads for victory, de Klerk party holding Cape
ANC heads for victory, de Klerk party holding Cape
JOHANNESBURG (Reuter): Nelson Mandela's ANC headed for a big win in South Africa's historic elections yesterday but President F.W. de Klerk's National Party, reformed architect of apartheid, seemed to be clinging to power in the Cape.
With more than a third of an anticipated 22 million or more votes counted, election officials said the ANC had 59.3 percent of valid votes cast in the all-race elections for a new national assembly and government of national unity.
De Klerk's party, which institutionalised apartheid after coming to power in 1948 and began dismantling it four years ago, had a 26.5 percent share of the national poll but it was on course for victory in the provincial poll for the Western Cape.
It had nearly 56 percent of the vote there compared to 27 percent for the ANC. A provisional result was expected later in the day from the region.
The National Party was pressing the ANC hard in the Northern Cape region, a sparsely-populated area which like neighboring Western Cape has a majority of mixed-race (colored) voters. But political analysts said it was too early to predict most final results.
The ANC had a firm grip on six regions, including the densely- populated area around Johannesburg and Pretoria, but the Inkatha Freedom Party of Mangosuthu Buthelezi was leading in KwaZulu- Natal where most of its Zulu supporters live.
Inkatha, main black rival of the ANC, was running third nationwide with 6.6 percent -- more than the five percent minimum needed to guarantee it a cabinet post in the government which is due to take office later this week.
Neck and neck
Buthelezi hinted during campaigning he would not join such a government, saying he would prefer to operate in opposition. A feature of last week's poll was a relative absence of political violence by rival black groups, whose feuding accounted for most of the 20,000 people killed in a decade of bloodletting.
But there were signs at the weekend that the men of violence were at large again. Twenty-three people were killed in KwaZulu- Natal and three in townships around Johannesburg over the weekend. Police said most of the killings in KwaZulu-Natal appeared to be politically motivated.
A spate of bombings on the eve of the elections, in which 21 people were killed, appeared to have abated following the arrest of more than 30 right-wing whites.
Results just before 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) gave the white separatist Freedom Front of General Constand Viljoen 3.2 percent of the vote. The party was neck and neck with the NP in some regions.
Political analysts said one of the biggest losers appeared to be the black radical Pan Africanist Congress, with 1.2 percent of the poll.
The National Party's success in the Western Cape meant Law and Order Minister Hernus Kriel would almost certainly become premier of the region. Kriel told state television yesterday he was very optimistic about the outcome.
Colored ANC premiership candidate Allan Boesak conceded that defeat was imminent, telling reporters late on Sunday: "The ANC will accept the outcome of the democratic process."
Earlier on Sunday, radical ANC activist Tony Yengeni, a member of the party's regional executive, said trouble could be expected in black townships.
"Already the man in the street in the township is feeling betrayed," he said. Yesterday, however, there was no sign of unrest in the area with commuters traveling to work normally.
ANC information director Pallo Jordan predicted on Sunday the movement would finish with at least 58 percent of the vote -- short of the 66 percent for which it had aimed.
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