JOHANNESBURG, May 30, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - With a third of the votes counted, South Africa's ruling ANC is on course to win another general election but lose its 30-year-old outright majority, partial results showed Thursday.

According to the Independent Electoral Commission, President Cyril Ramaphosa's African National Congress has won 42.19 percent of the votes, with 7,658 districts out of 23,293 reporting.

This would leave it the largest single party in the National Assembly but, crucially, without the absolute majority it has won in every previous national vote since the advent of democracy in 1994.