2026 local government election results: Voting stations across South Africa closed and counting begins
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced that voting has ended and counting has begun.
“The 2026 Local Government Elections have officially come to an end as voting stations across the country close their doors,” it said.
It explained that the next step is for the votes to be counted, which follows strict procedures.
The votes are counted at the station in the presence of political agents and observers, ensuring transparency and trust in the electoral process.
- Step one: All ballot boxes are accounted for, and agents are asked to confirm the seal numbers.
- Step two: Seals are broken, and ballot boxes are opened. Special vote envelopes are opened, and ballots are mixed with the rest.
- Step three: The numbers are checked against ballots received and votes cast. The ballot paper statement is completed.
- Step four: Ballots are counted in each party, or candidates’ totals are recorded. Unclear choices are set aside to determine their status at the end of counting.
- Step five: Results slips are captured in duplicate and countersigned by agents displayed at the voting station. The other copy is captured with a VMD and processed at the IEC local office in the presence of political representatives.
As part of step two, every ballot is unfolded, placed face down, and checked for the official security stamp.
If there is no stamp, it is spoiled, and it doesn’t count. Ballots are sorted by election type into packs of 10 and bundled into hundreds.
Meanwhile, party representatives, observers, and the media monitor the process at the results centres.
After all the result slips have been independently audited by all the necessary parties, they are released.
Finally, within 7 days, the IEC announces the final results and municipal council seat allocations.
Newsday election results portal
To make it easy for South Africans to follow the 2026 local government election results, Newsday has built a dedicated election results portal.
The portal offers all election data since 1999, making it easy for visitors to track changes in support for different political parties.
The election results include those for municipalities, provincial legislatures, and the national assembly.
Using the interactive map, users can zoom in to a local government region to see the results for that municipality.
The portal will be updated in real time to keep visitors up to date with the latest results from South Africa’s 2026 local government elections.
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