Jacob Zuma was elected Tuesday as head of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, likely positioning him to become the country's next president.

Jacob Zuma, a populist former guerrilla fighter backed by the left, defeated his former ally, President Thabo Mbeki, to win the ANC leadership Tuesday.
(Denis Farrell/Associated Press)

The bitter leadership contest saw President Thabo Mbeki, who has served two terms in office, defeated by ally turned rival Zuma.

Zuma received 2,329 votes, ahead of Mbeki's 1,505. When the results were announced, the pair climbed on stage together and embraced.

Mbeki's term as president ends with the scheduled elections in 2009, but the margin of victory has led to speculation that he may step down early. Zuma is expected to become the African nation's next president due to the party's wide support.

Voting was delayed two days amid disagreements over procedures and counting of the 3,900 votes was completed Tuesday afternoon.

The ANC Youth League, a key Zuma ally, demanded ballots be counted manually instead of electronically, a sign of growing mistrust within the party.

Mbeki could not have sought a third term under the constitution, but remaining the party's leader would have given him a say in choosing a successor and shaping the next leader's policies.

The former allies are both 65 and spent years in exile during apartheid, but the campaigns have focused on the two men's differences.

While Mbeki is a foreign-educated academic who sprinkles Shakespeare into his speeches, Zuma has no formal schooling.

Zuma was a leader of the exiled ANC's military wing and, like former president Nelson Mandela, served time at the Robben Island prison.

He says he won't radically change the economic agenda for fear of scaring off investors and has called for AIDS and crime to be treated as "national emergencies."

Mbeki fired Zuma as the country's deputy president in 2005 after Zuma's financial adviser was convicted of trying to elicit a $70,000 bribe for Zuma to deflect investigations into an arms deal. Charges were withdrawn, but there are indications they may be revived.

Last year, Zuma was acquitted of raping a family friend, but testified during trial he had unprotected consensual sex with the HIV-positive woman and then took a shower, believing it would protect him.

Zuma supporters have accused the media and Mbeki camp of unfairly vilifying him.

With files from the Associated Press