Cope trailed far behind the ANC, taking around 75 percent of the votes counted thus far in the Eastern Cape, according to the latest results released at the IEC's centre in Pretoria on Thursday morning.

While results were still streaming in by 9.30am, ANC votes numbered 585 889, with Cope trailing far behind with only 85 768 votes. Around 25 percent of the votes in the province had been counted.

Cope had claimed the Eastern Cape as a stronghold.

The United Democratic Movement was fourth in the province with 22 932 votes.

The newly-formed party was leading the DA, which had taken 63 854 of the votes counted thus far.

However, the DA was leading both the ANC and Cope in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality (Port Elizabeth) with 3612 votes.

The ANC followed with 1947 votes and Cope with 709 votes. In the municipality, a total of 566 668 voters were registered while a total of 6611 votes had been counted so far.

A total of 781 407 votes had been counted by 9.30am in the province while 3 056 559 voters were registered. It was still unclear how many voters actually turned out to cast their ballots.