As voting comes to an end, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) continues counting votes at the results centre, with attention turning to the final outcome of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
The IEC’s Western Cape Electoral Officer, Michael Hendrickse, says he is reasonably satisfied with how election day unfolded, despite some challenges, including long queues that caused inconvenience for voters.
Around 30% of the votes in the province had been counted at the time of the update, with the final results expected to be announced towards the end of the week.
Hendrickse confirmed that the formal declaration of the election results is scheduled for Sunday, 8 November 2026.
He explained that the allocation of proportional representation seats can only be finalised once all voting district results within a municipality have been received.
“Obviously, sometimes it takes time. Given the way our system of government works, you need to wait for the last result to come in before you can calculate the proportional representation. You cannot allocate half the seats until the last voting district in that municipality has submitted its results.”
