IEC pushes election results announcement to Sunday

The IEC is facing delays in announcing the 2026 local government election results, with nearly all votes counted but with outstanding objections and recounts holding up declaring the final outcome.

The announcement of the 2026 local government election results has been pushed to Sunday as the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) works through objections and recounts, with 99% of national votes counted by Saturday afternoon.

The IEC confirmed that it had received 197 objections by 3pm on Saturday. Of these, 54 had been dismissed, eight withdrawn and two upheld.

This was revealed by IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya during a media briefing at the National Results Operations Centre (NROC) in Midrand on Saturday, where he provided an update on the completion of results processing and the determination of objections.

At the time of the briefing, the ANC was leading nationally with 30.89% of the vote, followed by the DA with 24.58%, the MK Party with 9.63%, the EFF with 6.25% and the IFP with 5.68%.

Moepya said the results remained provisional until the Commission had determined all objections, warning that decisions could affect the final allocation of seats.

“Pertinently, provisional results may change as a consequence of the determination of an objection. In this regard, seats that are assigned in the provisional results may change because of the decision of the Commission in determining an objection,” he said.

Of the two objections upheld, one resulted in an order for an edit window, while recounts were ordered in five wards.

The recounts will take place in the following wards:

- City of Tshwane, Ward 57, Village Montessori School 

- City of Tshwane, Ward 102, Patt Projects 

- Mangaung Metro, Ward 19, Ehrlich Park Fire Station

- Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, Ward 4, Shalom Church Centre

- Breede Valley Local Municipality, Ward 12, Christian Light Ministries

“The Commission will spare no effort to finalise the objections before it announces the election results,” Moepya said.

The Commission was now focused on determining objections that could have a material impact on the outcome of the election.

Political parties and independent candidates had until 5pm on Friday to lodge objections.

Meanwhile, Moepya said results processing had been finalised in all municipalities in the Free State, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.

Three provinces were still completing the final stages of results processing.

In Gauteng, processing remained outstanding in Emfuleni, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

In North West, Rustenburg was the only municipality where results processing had yet to be finalised.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the outstanding municipalities were Msunduzi and eThekwini.

Moepya said results processing in these municipalities was expected to be completed by Saturday evening.

“We urge contesting parties and candidates, citizens and the media to bear with the Commission as it winds up the rest of the remaining processes,” he said.

The IEC is scheduled to announce the 2026 Local Government Elections results at 6pm on Sunday.