South Africa's ANC is about to lose the majority

 South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is about to lose its majority in parliament for the first time since it came to power 30 years ago, partial results from Wednesday's parliamentary election suggest.

With results from 56% of voting districts counted so far, the African National Congress (ANC) is leading with 42%, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 24%.

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) of former President Jacob Zuma received 11% of the vote and the Economic Freedom Fighters party, nearly 10%.

Final results are expected over the weekend.

The online system streaming the election results crashed on Friday morning, leaving poll screens showing zero results.

South Africa's electoral commission has apologized for the issue and later restored the service.

It said the poll results had not been compromised.

Many voters blame the African National Congress (ANC) for the high levels of corruption, crime, and unemployment in the country.

This would force it to go into a coalition with one or more of the other parties to form a majority in parliament.

The DA has liberal economic policies, while both the EFF and MK favor more state intervention and nationalization, so the choice of partner would make a huge difference to South Africa's future direction.

It is unclear whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will remain in power, as he could come under pressure from the African National Congress (ANC) to resign if the party gets less than 45% of the final vote, said Prof William Gumede, chairman of the non-profit Democracy Works Foundation.

"The African National Congress (ANC) could turn him into a scapegoat, and a faction within the party could push for him to be replaced by his deputy, Paul Mashatile. The EFF and MK are also likely to demand his resignation before agreeing to any coalition with the African National Congress (ANC)," Prof Gumede said.

South Africans do not directly vote for a president. Instead, they vote for members of parliament who will then go on to elect the president.

The initial results show that the African National Congress (ANC) is suffering heavy losses to MK, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where Mr Zuma's party has been leading with 43% of the vote to the ANC's 21%.

Mr Zuma caused a major shock when he announced in December that he was ditching the African National Congress (ANC) to campaign for MK.

KwaZulu-Natal is the home region of Mr Zuma, and the province with the second-highest number of votes, making it crucial in determining whether the African National Congress (ANC) retains its parliamentary majority.

Although Mr Zuma has been barred from running for parliament because of a conviction for contempt of court, his name still appeared on the ballot paper as MK leader.

If MK wins KwaZulu-Natal, it would be a "major upset" and herald the "potential decimation" of the ANC in the province, Prof Gumede said.

The African National Congress (ANC) also risks losing its majority in the economic heartland of Gauteng, where the party currently has 36% to the DA's 29%.

Wednesday's election saw long lines of voters outside polling stations late into the night across the country.

According to the electoral commission, the last polling station closed at 0300 on Thursday morning local time.

One electoral official in Johannesburg told our news team the queues were reminiscent of the historic 1994 election when black people could vote for the first time.

"The turnout amongst them was high, and they voted against the African National Congress (ANC)," Prof Gumede said.

Support for the African National Congress (ANC) is expected to be higher among the older generation.

One 89-year-old woman, Elayne Dykman, told our news team she hoped that young people in South Africa did not take their vote for granted.

A record 70 parties and 11 independents were running, with South Africans voting for a new parliament and nine provincial legislatures.

The DA has signed a pact with 10 of them, agreeing to form a coalition government if they get enough votes to dislodge the African National Congress (ANC) from power.

But this is highly unlikely, with the African National Congress (ANC) expected to remain the biggest party, putting it in pole position to lead a coalition.