Early results have given South Africa's ANC a big lead in the general election but it is too early to say if it has retained its two-thirds majority. Voting at some polling stations was allowed to go on late into the night because of an earlier shortage of ballot papers and boxes. A leader of the opposition Cope party was shot dead in Eastern Cape but the vote appeared otherwise peaceful. The final, official results will not be known for days. With less than one fifth of votes counted, partial results showed the ruling ANC of Jacob Zuma had some 60% of the vote and the opposition Democratic Alliance around 20%. Cope (Congress of the People), formed last year by a group which split from the ANC after ex-President Thabo Mbeki was replaced as leader, garnered around 8% of the vote. Charges of corruption against Mr Zuma were dropped just two weeks before the poll after state prosecutors said there had been political interference in the case. High turnout Monday's poll was the country's fourth general election since the end of apartheid 15 years ago. Turnout was comparable to the last general election in 2004, when it was 76% and the ANC won 70% of the vote. Braving wintry weather on Wednesday, long queues of voters formed outside many of the 20,000 polling stations catering for 23 million registered voters around the country. Later in the day reports began to emerge of a surge in demand for ballot papers and long queues at polling stations. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has threatened to take the IEC to court over the shortage of ballot papers, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reports. She said 24 voting stations had run out of ballot papers in parts of Gauteng and Cape Town - areas where her party has a strong following, according to the SABC. In Eastern Cape Province, Cope official Gerlad Yona was shot and mortally wounded when three armed men attacked his home, a party spokesman said. Nkosifikile Gqomo said the party believed the attack was linked to politics. Second place fight Many of the new voters were young people who had little memory of the struggle to end white minority rule, which brought the ANC to power. Analysts say Cope's emergence energised the early stages of the election campaign but the party's popularity seems to have diminished in recent weeks. Cope fielded a relatively unknown presidential candidate, former Bishop Mvume Dandala who, analysts say, has struggled to make an impact. Some say the real battle is between Cope and the Democratic Alliance for second place. Neither party has ruled out entering into a coalition after the election. Source: BBC