The African National Congress (ANC) was on Thursday morning leading the national tally of votes in the municipal elections, but the Democratic Alliance (DA) was leading in major cities.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) Results Operations Centre (ROC) released figures that showed the ANC was trailing the DA in Tshwane, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay.

In Tshwane, the DA was leading with 48 percent, ahead of the ANC which had 39 percent. The story was the same in Johannesburg, but the difference was much narrower.

Figures displayed at the ROC indicated that the Economic Freedom Fighters were in third place in the national tally.

However, highly populated townships in areas such as Soweto in Johannesburg and Motherwell in Port Elizabeth were yet to be counted.

Although the IEC had not made any official announcement on the results, so far nearly half the votes have been counted.