The Electoral Commission of South Africa has announced that a national voter registration weekend will take place on 20 and 21 June as part of preparations for the upcoming local government elections.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, the Commission urged South Africans to ensure they are registered to vote where they ordinarily live, as voters in local government elections must cast their ballots at the voting station where they are registered.

The Commission said it must be ready to administer elections whenever they are lawfully called.

Once the voter registration process is completed, the election date is expected to be proclaimed by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa.

Eligible voters will be able to register until midnight on the day the election date is announced.

The proclamation will also trigger key processes such as the certification and publication of the voters’ roll, inspection of the roll, the lodging and adjudication of objections, and the submission of candidate nominations.

Municipal Councils serve a five-year term, after which elections must be held within 90 days. This 90-day window is calculated from the day following the previous local government elections.

The last Local Government Elections took place on 1 November 2021, so the current term of municipal councils will expire on 1 November 2026.

This means that the next local government elections must be scheduled between 2 November 2026 and 30 January 2027.

IEC LGE 2026 Readiness in Numbers

• 20–21 June 2026 – National voter registration weekend
• 260,205 – New voters registered between November 2025 and March 2026
• 132,092 – Registrations through the online self-service portal
• 128,113 – Registrations captured using voter management devices
• 4,305 – Wards finalised by the Municipal Demarcation Board (about 95% of wards nationally)
• 4 – Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal with outstanding ward delimitation
• 209 – Parties operating at provincial, district or metro level
• 1 key requirement – Voters must be registered where they ordinarily live to vote in the local government elections run by the Electoral Commission of South Africa.