Vote counting is underway across South Africa following the conclusion of the 2026 Local Government Elections.

The Electoral Commission says counting began at voting stations shortly after polls closed at 9 pm on Wednesday night.

All ballot papers are being counted at the voting stations where they were cast, in the presence of political party agents, independent candidate agents and accredited observers.

The ballots are first checked for the IEC’s security stamp before being sorted and counted separately for each election contest. These include the proportional representation (PR) ballot, ward candidate ballot and, where applicable, the district council PR ballot.

Once counting is complete, the results are reconciled against the number of ballot papers received, issued, unused, spoilt and counted at each voting station.

Results slips are then completed in duplicate, signed by the presiding officer and countersigned by party agents. They are displayed at the voting station, where party agents are also allowed to photograph them.

The results are subsequently scanned and captured at local IEC offices, where they undergo verification and independent external auditing.

The IEC says its Results Operations Centres allow political parties, independent candidates, observers and the media to monitor the capturing and verification process.

The Commission has committed to declaring the final results and announcing the allocation of municipal council seats within the prescribed seven-day period, once counting, verification and outstanding queries have been completed.

The Western Cape Electoral Commission expects to release provisional results on Friday.

You can see the LIVE results as they come in via the IEC’s Election Dashboard HERE.