With the majority of votes now in the ANC has been declared the winner of South Africa’s 2009 general election, with the two thirds majority it was seeking, while the DA retains its hold over the Western Cape.

Though there are still some votes to be tallied, the ANC currently has just shy of a 67% majority, giving it the two thirds it was looking for. The DA is on just shy of 16% while COPE is in third place with 7%.

As expected, the ANC appears to have clinched victory in all provinces other than the Western Cape. There, the DA is winning with 49%, while the ANC has 31% and COPE has 9%.

A report on Business Day suggests that the DA has nearly doubled its share of the vote in the province from the 26.9% it obtained in the 2004 election to a near 50% overall majority in this election.

Elsewhere, though the votes are still being counted in the Northern Cape, it appears that new entrant COPE is set to replace the DA as the official opposition in the province.