Johannesburg, Nov 4 (IANS) South Africa’s local government elections kicked off on Wednesday as voting officially opened at 7 am (0500 GMT), with more than 29 million registered voters expected to cast their ballots at nearly 23,700 polling stations across the country.
Polling stations are scheduled to close at 9 pm (1900 GMT), with final results to be announced after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) completes the counting and verification process.
The 2026 vote marks South Africa’s sixth local government elections since the country’s transition to democracy in 1994, the IEC said.
To accommodate voters unable to cast their ballots on election day, the IEC held special voting on November 2-3. The commission approved 2.65 million applications, allowing homebound voters to cast their ballots through home visits and others to vote early at designated polling stations, Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to IEC data, candidates are contesting 10,526 municipal council seats nationwide. The elections cover 4,488 electoral wards.
South Africa uses a mixed electoral system combining ward-based voting and proportional representation. Voters cast ballots for both individual ward candidates and political parties, with proportional representation seats allocated according to each party’s share of the vote.
Depending on where they live, voters receive two or three ballot papers. Voters in the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities cast two ballots, while those in other areas receive a third to elect representatives to district municipalities.
Local government is one of South Africa’s three spheres of governance, alongside national and provincial governments. The country has 257 municipalities, comprising eight metropolitan, 44 district and 205 local municipalities.
Municipal councils are responsible for essential services that directly affect residents’ daily lives, including water and sanitation, electricity distribution, waste collection and local road maintenance. Some responsibilities are shared with other tiers of government or public utilities.
Held every five years, local government elections are widely seen as a key barometer of public confidence in political parties and their performance in delivering services.
This year’s vote is taking place amid growing political fragmentation and intensifying competition. A total of 546 political parties and nearly 137,000 candidates are contesting seats in the 2026 elections, according to the IEC.
The results will determine the composition of municipal councils for the next five years. In municipalities where no single party wins an outright majority, coalition negotiations will be crucial to forming local administrations.
–IANS
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