MIDRAND, May 31 — An apparent glitch on the website of South Africa’s electoral commission this morning meant that the results page from this week’s parliamentary election stopped updating and went blank.

As of 0630 GMT (2.30pm Malaysian time), the results page showed the vote count as 0 per cent complete after it had previously been showing results from more than 50 per cent of polling stations. The election took place on Wednesday.

An election commission official at the results centre in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, said:

"We should be back online very soon and the data will be available again.

"We have not lost any data and there is progress with our capturing, and there are no issues in terms of that.”

Technicians at the results centre said they were working to fix the problem.

Before the results page went blank, the vote count showed the ANC on track to lose its parliamentary majority with 42.3 per cent of the vote, the opposition Democratic Alliance at 23.4 per cent and the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party of former President Jacob Zuma at 10.8 per cent. — Reuters