2026 Election Results: DA projects that it will achieve more votes from black South Africans than the EFF
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Federal Council Chairperson, Ashor Sarupen, said their projections indicate they received over 1 million votes from black South Africans.
“This morning I made the DA’s first results projection, from the floor of the IEC National Results Operation Centre,” he said.
“The DA’s election data modelling indicates that, for the first time in our history, more than one million black South Africans will have voted for the DA.”
“Our projections also indicate that the DA will have received more votes from black South Africans than the EFF.”
This result, he said, makes the Democratic Alliance a mainstream party in every community, including black, white, coloured, and Indian areas.
“These are projections, and we await the final certified results. But the significance of this potential milestone goes far beyond the numbers,” he said.
“For too long, South African politics has been defined by the assumption that the colour of your skin determines the party you vote for.”
“The DA has always believed that South Africa can be different, that we can build a party for all, that works for all, and that delivers for all.”
Sarupen said the early results showed the DA’s vision is gaining support in more communities than before.
“It is a reminder that political parties do not have to rely on racial division, resentment or hatred to build support,” he said.
“South Africans can find common cause in the things that unite us: the desire for good government, opportunity, dignity and a better future for all South Africans.”
He said that this result lays a strong foundation for the Democratic Alliance to become South Africa’s largest party.
“We are moving towards a South Africa in which voting for the DA is no longer regarded as an unusual political choice,” he said.
“A South Africa in which voting for a party for all South Africans, whether you are black, white, coloured or Indian, is unremarkable, is, in itself, remarkable.”
CSIR projection: ANC at 31.7% and DA at 25.8%
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) latest projection puts the ANC at 31.7%, the DA at 25.8%, MK at 9%, EFF at 6%, and ActionSA at 5%.
This prediction came after 13% of the vote had been counted and is based on the CSIR’s results-forecast model.
This results forecast model uses samples from the official early results to predict the remaining results.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s predictions are updated continuously, as more voting district results are released.
In the past, the CSIR’s early predictions were within 1 to 3 percentage points of the final national support levels for most leading parties.
As expected, the CSIR’s predictions became more accurate as more results were released.
These predictions are valuable to people who want to understand the likely outcome ahead of the official results announcement.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will announce the official results of the 2026 Local Government Elections only on Sunday, 8 November 2026.
The reason it takes so long is that it can only happen once all the ward and voting district results in a municipality have been announced.
The district announcements typically happen from late Thursday morning for small municipalities up until Saturday for the big metros.
During this period, CSIR results predictions will provide a clear picture of the expected final metro and municipal results.
“Our team will continue to monitor incoming results and update model outputs as more official election data becomes available,” the CSIR said.
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