South Africa’s political landscape is beginning to take shape as early results from the 2026 local government elections come in, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) showing strong support in major cities while the African National Congress (ANC) faces a challenging start to the count.
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Although only a portion of the votes had been processed at the time of the latest figures, the early numbers suggest a particularly interesting contest in the country’s biggest metropolitan areas.
Nationally, the ANC was narrowly ahead of the DA, recording 31.81% of the vote compared with the DA’s 31.14%, according to the IEC Municipal Election Results.
The figures reflected just 13.5% of voting districts reporting, meaning the national picture remains far from settled. Smaller parties, including the Patriotic Alliance (PA), uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), are also significant.
However, it is in the metropolitan municipalities where the DA’s early performance is particularly noticeable.
In the Western Cape, the party was leading with 59.09% of the vote, while the PA sat on 10.33% of the vote and ANC was sitting at just 10.16%% in the early count.
Gauteng is also producing an interesting result. The DA was leading there with 40.89%, followed by ANC on 18.48%.
If the Gauteng figures remain broadly similar as counting progresses, it could be a significant blow for the ANC in one of South Africa’s most important metropolitan areas. ActionSA’s early showing also suggests that the contest for influence in the city could involve more than just the country’s two largest political parties.
These figures are not final, however, and the outcome could still change as more voting districts report their results.
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The early numbers follow an election campaign in which the performance of the country’s municipalities, service delivery and the state of local infrastructure were major issues for voters. Municipal elections determine who represents communities in local councils and, ultimately, who makes decisions about services such as water, electricity, refuse collection, roads and public spaces.
The scale of the vote is significant. According to information released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) ahead of the election, approximately 29.2 million voters were registered across 23 696 voting stations, with 508 political parties contesting the municipal polls.
Voting stations closed on Wednesday evening, 4 November, with the IEC moving into the counting and verification process.
The commission has explained that ballots are counted at the voting stations where they were cast, with political party agents, independent candidate agents and accredited observers able to monitor proceedings.
Once counting has been completed, the results are recorded on official result slips. These are checked and signed by the relevant election officials, with party agents also able to verify the information. The results are then captured and subjected to the IEC’s verification processes before being released.
This process is intended to ensure that the figures reflect the ballots actually cast and that any discrepancies can be investigated.
The IEC has said that the final results and municipal council seat allocations will be announced within seven days of the election, once the necessary counting, verification and outstanding queries have been completed.
For now, the early results offer an indication of the direction in which voters may be leaning, but they do not yet tell the full story.
Featured image: Gallo Images/Sydney Seshibedi
Originally published by Cape{town}etc.
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