Reuters reported that The ruling African National Congress (ANC) had taken  a huge lead on Thursday in South Africa’s first “Born Free” election, featuring voters with no memory of the white-minority rule that ended in 1994. But the ruling party had lost some of its shine among voters as it got 59.7 percent of the vote with a third of ballots counted, way below the 65 percent it had at the same point in the last election.

Its nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance, held 26.7 percent, backing predictions the party would improve on the 16.7 percent it won five years ago as it gradually sheds its image as the political home of privileged whites. The ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters, led by Julius Malema, a populist politician who was expelled from the ANC, was in third place with 4.3 percent.