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ELECTION RESULTS: With 64 percent of the voting districts reporting: African National Congress 64% Democratic Party 11% The New National Party 9% Inkatha Freedom Party 8% Source: The Associated Press RELATED VIDEO CNN Johannesburg Bureau Chief Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports that the elections went smoothly Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Nelson Mandela bids farewell  MESSAGE BOARD: South Africa elections

June 3, 1999
Web posted at: 9:05 a.m. EDT (1305 GMT)

In this story: Turnout estimated at more than 85 percent 'Looking into the future' RELATED STORIES, SITES

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- President Nelson Mandela's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party was headed to a landslide two-thirds majority Thursday in South Africa's second all-race elections, a result that would bestow the power to alter the post-apartheid constitution.

The ANC victory assures that party President Thabo Mbeki, Mandela's deputy during the first five years of democratic government, will take over as president on June 16.

The voting stretched from Wednesday into early Thursday, because of long lines at many polling stations, but the ANC's victory was assured.

A projection by SABC public radio predicted the ANC would pass the two-thirds mark after provisional official figures showed it with 64.3 percent of 9.5 million votes counted, or about 60 percent of those cast.

Votes still coming in from ANC rural strongholds were likely to increase its winning margin.

The results so far suggested a big change in the parliamentary balance among the other parties, with the liberal Democratic Party (DP) toppling the former apartheid- era The New National Party as ANC's official opposition.

The DP, which as the Progressive Party was the lone parliamentary voice against apartheid for 13 years, polled 10.8 percent of the first 9.5 million votes, leaving the NNP trailing in third place with about 8.1 percent.

The Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party, third-largest in the country's first democratically elected parliament, was narrowly behind the NNP with just over 8 percent of the vote.

Smaller parties divided the rest.

Significant unofficial results were expected sometime early Thursday, and the Independent Election Commission said it could take days to get official results.

Thousands remained in line even after the polling stations closed at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Wednesday, but election officials said everyone who arrived before the deadline would still be allowed to vote.

Chief Electoral Officer Mandla Mchunu said preliminary estimates put turnout at more than 85 percent of the country's 18.2 million registered voters.

"It's a very wonderful occasion to be able to vote," said Mandela, who was elected in 1994. "It gives me a wonderful feeling. The feeling is not as intense as it was in 1994, because I was exercising this right for the first time. But now, I am comparatively relaxed."

The 80-year-old Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years for his activism against apartheid, is retiring from political life. The newly-elected National Assembly will select his successor -- almost assured to be Thabo Mbeki -- on June 14, and the new president will be sworn in two days later.

Mbeki said Wednesday's voting would be "free and fair."

"Indeed this ... demonstrates the commitment to a democratic system," he said, "the commitment for people to choose a government that they like without fear of intimidation, without being forced in any way."

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Absent on voting day was the violence that plagued the previous election that ended white minority rule. Long lines -- though not as long as in 1994 -- queued into 14,650 polling stations under the watchful eyes of 100,000 police and soldiers deployed to keep the peace.

Tension surfaced, however, as the polling deadline approached. Fights broke out, and a surging crowd in a Cape Town slum broke the windows of a church used as a polling station.

Some polling stations opened late, ballot papers did not arrive in time or ran out, poll officials handed out the wrong type of ballots and several ANC poll workers were accused of intimidating rival party supporters.

But overall, elections officials said voting went smoothly. No major election-related violence was reported by evening, said security minister Sidney Mufamadi.

In rural areas, voters began to line up as early as six hours ahead of the start of balloting.

In Sharpeville -- scene of the apartheid era's worst massacre -- many voters said they came to the polls in part to honor the memories of the 69 people killed in 1960 when police fired on demonstrators protesting apartheid laws.

"My uncle died here," said Mpiwakhe Khumalo. "There is still no way the sadness could go, but by me voting, I am taking my country forward. I am looking into the future."

"The elections should give us hope," said Joseph Mpholo, a 31-year-old policeman on duty at the old police station where the massacre occurred. "People who died here were fighting for a just cause which we have to protect."

Johannesburg Bureau Chief Charlayne Hunter-Gault, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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