South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) got 279 seats in the country's new parliament, more than two-thirds of the total, according to the final results released here Saturday evening by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The IEC announced that the ANC gained 10,878,251 votes in the April 14 general elections, 69.68 percent of the 15,863,554 votes cast across the country, with a voter turnout of 76.73 percent.

The Democratic Alliance obtained 50 seats of the 400-member National Assembly, coming in second, with 1,931,201 votes, or 12.37 percent of the total.

They are followed by the Inkatha Freedom Party, with 1,088,664 votes, or 6.97 percent of the total.

Addressing the press briefing where the final results were announced, South African President Thabo Mbeki said his party would continue pursuing the goals of reconstruction and development.

He said that the elections were truly free and fair, and that the results reflected the will of the people of South Africa.

He thanked all political parties for their ready acceptance of the election results, even in those incidents in which the outcomewas not as favorable as they might have had expected.

"Their high level responsibility and patriotic behavior played a political role in ensuring that we had a peaceful, free and fairelection," he said.

He called on all national and provincial parliament members to do whatever they can to serve the people.

"I'm certain that as we begin our second decade of liberation, these representatives know that the electorate expect them to do everything in their power to secure a better life for all our people," he said.

Source: Xinhua