South Africa local government elections: ANC falls to 30.76% as DA takes 24.64%

South Africa’s local government elections ended with the African National Congress (ANC) on 30.76% of the vote and the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 24.64%, after the Electoral Commission (IEC) declared the 4 November poll free and fair on Sunday, 8 November. IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya announced the final results at the results centre in Midrand, SAnews reported. Most of the 213 councils now need coalition deals.

How the South Africa local government elections played out

The ANC won 3,246 council seats and the DA 1,695. The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party took 9.76% and 785 seats, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) 6.22% and 588 seats, and ActionSA 5.67% and 313 seats, SAnews reported. All other parties and independents together took 22.97%.

The ANC won outright control of 53 municipalities and led in 128 more. The DA controls 12 outright and leads in 32, while the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) controls five and the MK Party three, according to The Citizen. Only a minority of councils have a majority party: SAnews counted 72 and The Citizen counted 74.

Key numbers

• 30.76%: the ANC vote share, against about 46% in the 2021 municipal elections, per Africanews.
• 24.64%: the DA vote share.
• 9.76%: the MK Party vote share, in its first local election.
• 52%: national turnout, with about 14.9 million of 29.2 million registered voters casting ballots, up from 45.9% in 2021.
• 213: the number of municipal councils decided.

Why voters turned away from the ANC

Africanews reported that failing water and power supplies, along with frustration over corruption and mismanagement, were key issues. Analyst Sanet Solomons said: “Key among the reasons why the ANC is losing votes is because of the emergence of the parties such as the MKP.” The ANC took nearly 70% nationally in 2004, Africanews noted.

Professor Amanda Gouws told AFP that smaller parties have joined coalitions before, but those arrangements have been unstable, which does not help service delivery.

What people said

Moepya said: “It is then my singular honour to hereby declare the 2026 Municipal Elections concluded as free and fair.” President Cyril Ramaphosa told the gathering that hung councils should not be treated as a failure of democracy. “People did not cast their vote so that their representatives could spend the next five years fighting amongst themselves,” he said, The Citizen reported.

Political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP at an earlier stage of the count that it was “the ANC’s worst result in history”. ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said before the final tally: “We don’t think local government is ideological,” EWN reported.

What happens next

Councils must now elect office-bearers, and Ramaphosa urged parties to negotiate in good faith and pass budgets on time. The Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni metros had no outright winner when EWN reported on 6 November, with the DA leading in each. In Douglas in the Northern Cape, ballot papers were destroyed before counting, and Moepya said the affected results will be re-run.

Coalition politics is also dominating the news elsewhere: see our reports on Israel’s coalition race and the New Zealand election, and our wider World coverage.