South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken a lead in party nominations for the next leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), a poll showed.
Ramaphosa secured the support of 65 per cent of the branches tallied so far.
Hundreds of ANC branches across the country are nominating their choice for the party’s president and other senior positions ahead of a December vote.
5,000 delegates sent by the branches are expected to cast their votes.
The ANC’s next leader will probably become president of the country at a national election in 2019 given the party’s electoral dominance.
Early indications are that party members are split between Ramaphosa, a former union leader and one of the country’s richest people, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a former minister and ex-wife of President Jacob Zuma, for the party’s top job, Reuters reports.
According to the poll by the institute of Race Relations (IRR), Dlamini-Zuma had secured 30 per cent of nominations while the party’s Treasurer General Zweli Mkhize garnered most of the remaining 5 per cent.
The IRR said its data suggested 74 percent of ANC branches had made nominations and cautioned that it had not been able to confirm its findings.
The ANC does not make the nomination tallies public.
A Ramaphosa win in December has tended to be viewed as the more positive outcome by investors.
