The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it has completed 91% of the results processing for the 2026 Local Government Elections, with Gauteng emerging as the province with the lowest completion rate at 75%.
As political parties and candidates await the final outcome of the elections, the commission said on Friday that 150 of the country’s 213 municipalities, excluding the 44 district councils, had complete results by 5pm.
The Northern Cape is the only province where results processing has been completed, reaching 100%, while the Free State is close behind at 98%.
The Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga have both recorded 95% completion, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal at 92%.
North West is at 87%, while Limpopo has reached 86%. Gauteng remains the furthest behind, with only 75% of its results processed.
The commission said it was expecting a total of 66 073 result slips from 23 696 voting stations across the country.
The outstanding results are largely concentrated in metropolitan municipalities, where the high population density translates into more voting districts and a greater volume of results that need to be processed.
The IEC also attributed the delays to the increased number of contestants participating in the elections, which resulted in longer ballot papers and significantly longer results slips.
“ The balance of the results still to be completed are mostly in the Metropolitan Municipal Areas, principally because of the high number of voting districts given the population densities in these urban nodes,” the commission said.
It added that the participation rate among contestants had contributed to the lengthier ballots, making the results processing exercise more time-consuming.
Despite the progress, the IEC cautioned political parties, independent candidates, the media and members of the public against treating the figures currently available as final.
It said the results remained provisional until all objections and verification processes had been concluded.
The commission urged stakeholders to rely exclusively on officially verified results published through its platforms, warning against the circulation of unverified information that could undermine confidence in the electoral process.
The warning comes amid social media claims questioning the credibility of results in certain voting districts, particularly in Emalahleni Local Municipality in Mpumalanga.
The IEC dismissed as disinformation posts alleging that results from wards 4 and 23 were being withheld because the number of ballots cast exceeded the number of registered voters.
According to the commission, the claims were false, as the official voter turnout in both wards was just over 50%, significantly below the registered voter population.
The commission also addressed a separate allegation circulating on social media that a municipal official had voted four times during the elections.
It described the claim as deliberately misleading, explaining that the incident involved a voter who initially went to the wrong voting district within her ward.
The voter was scanned at the incorrect voting district before being directed to the correct one where she was registered to cast her ballot.
The IEC said the incident did not amount to multiple voting, emphasising that the electoral system does not allow a registered voter to cast a ballot in more than one voting district.
“Voting more than once is not possible in the 2026 Local Government Elections because a voter may only cast a ballot in the voting district in which they are registered,” the commission said.
The clarification comes at a critical stage of the election process, as parties closely monitor the results and political control of several municipalities hangs in the balance.
The IEC said it remained committed to completing the results process as quickly as possible without compromising the accuracy, transparency and integrity of the elections.
It also called on political representatives and their supporters to verify information before sharing it, particularly on social media platforms where unsubstantiated allegations can spread rapidly.
The commission warned that spreading false information could constitute a breach of the Electoral Code of Conduct and the associated Disinformation Code.
With 9% of results still outstanding nationally, attention is increasingly focused on the metropolitan municipalities, particularly Gauteng, where the final results could determine coalition arrangements and the political leadership of key urban centres.
The IEC said it would continue working towards finalising the results while ensuring that all outstanding objections and verification processes were properly addressed.
