The local government by-elections being held in five provinces are running smoothly, according to Independent Electoral Commission spokesperson Kate Bapela.

"So far I've not received any reports contrary to that," she said on Wednesday afternoon.

Voters are going to the polls to cast their ballots for 41 contested seats in the Western Cape, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.

The newly-formed Congress of the People is contesting a number of the seats through independent candidates, in what is seen as the first real test of its support.

In Cape Town, where a head-to-head clash between Cope and the ANC failed to materialise after the ANC missed registration deadlines, polling was also running smoothly, IEC provincial head Courtney Sampson said.

"There haven't been any major hitches."

He said there had been a need for the ANC to be on the streets on Wednesday morning to tell voters that its last-minute court bid to take part had not been successful.

However, there had also been reports of "forms of intimidation" of prospective voters by ANC members.

This had been resolved with the assistance of the police, he said.

"We spoke to the ANC, they spoke to their members. At the moment things are quiet."

Sampson said voter turnout had been "very low" by mid-afternoon.

It was a working day, and there was always a possibility that things might pick up, but Cape Town traditionally had a relatively low turnout in municipal by-elections, of about 20 percent.

"There will be heightened activity from 5pm on, but whether this heightened activity will be phenomenal is another matter," he said.

The first results would be out only well after midnight.

Sapa