The Freedom Front Plus (FF) is leading the pack in a mock election being held online by Internet provider M-Web.
The mock election was launched online just over a week ago, and has attracted a great deal of attention ahead of the real South African elections next month.
The FF has 39.9% of the mock election vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 32.7%, while the ANC lags behind with 4% of the vote.
The FF reached 7 237 votes, taking over the lead from the DA (5 984 votes) after several thousand votes were cast over the weekend, bringing the total number of votes cast to 18 230 by 9am on Monday morning.
The Independent Democrats is in third place with 6.6% (1 204 votes), followed by the African Christian Democratic Party with 5.9% (1 075 votes). The ANC lies in fourth place with 3.9% (715) of the vote.
The two other major political parties, the New National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party, have so far received 1.4% (255 votes) and 0.5% (113) respectively.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says the poll can in no way be viewed as an accurate reflection of what is happening on the ground or of which way M-Web subscribers may vote.
"Internet polls are often subjected to mass lobbying with users spreading news of the poll via e-mail and asking their friends to vote. It is therefore not surprising that the minority parties have done well in the poll as they are likely to lobby for support," he says.
However, the fact that the ANC has featured so poorly in the poll shows that the digital divide is still a big issue in SA, Goldstuck says.
"With approximately 7.6% of the population having access to the Internet, there is a definitely a conclusion that the traditional white parties are better reflected than traditional black parties in the poll," he says.
Goldstuck says the poll also shows a touch of irony as it could be seen to imply the failure of the ANC`s universal Internet access philosophy.
"However, the poll cannot be taken seriously as such polls are generally frivolous," he says.
The full results of the poll can be viewed here.
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