A meagre 12 million people cast ballots as vote counting commences after 12pm

About 12 million people had cast their ballots by 5pm on Wednesday, according to preliminary figures released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), with voting expected to continue until stations close at 9pm.

IEC chief executive Sy Mamabolo said the commission was encouraged by the turnout across the country as South Africans voted in the 2026 local government elections.

“As of 17:00, preliminary figures indicate that 12 million voters had cast their votes,” said Mamabolo.

Gauteng recorded the highest number of votes, at three million, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 2.5 million, the Western Cape with 1.5 million and the Eastern Cape with 1.4 million.

Limpopo recorded 1.1 million votes, followed by Mpumalanga with 854 000, North West with 702 000, the Free State with 588 000 and the Northern Cape with 299 000.

“The commission is pleased with the encouraging turnout at many of our voting stations across the country. Yet we still need that residual voting bloc that has not made its way to the stations to do so before 21:00,” said Mamabolo.

He said ballot counting would begin once voting stations closed at 9pm.

“All ballot papers are counted at the voting stations where they are cast, in the presence of party agents, independent candidate agents and accredited observers,” he said.

Mamabolo explained that sealed ballot boxes would be opened and ballot papers checked for official IEC stamps before being sorted into ward, proportional representation and district ballots.

“Voting has progressed well across the country, notwithstanding some isolated incidents,” he said.

He said across 23 000 voting stations less than 1% of municipalities opened late.

“There is no widespread situation where voting stations opened late,” he said.

The IEC has made arrangements for generators and alternative lighting at voting stations to ensure that counting can continue into the evening without interruption.

Mamabolo reiterated that voting stations would close at 9pm but urged registered voters who had not yet cast their ballots to do so before the deadline.

The commission has assured voters that anyone who arrives at a voting station before 9pm will be allowed to vote, even if the process extends beyond the official closing time.

“Anyone who is within the voting station by the time of closing will not be turned away,” he said.

IEC Chief Executive Officer Sy Mamabolo said the final vote count is expected by the weekend.