IEC reports 15.9 million election participants, as results process continues

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has reported that 15.9 million South Africans participated in the 2026 Local Government Elections, including those who cast special votes, while stressing that preliminary turnout figures and the final results are still being determined. 

IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Sheburi said the Commission would only be able to provide a breakdown of voter participation, including the number of young and first-time voters, once the counting process has been concluded. 

“We can indicate that at this rate, 15.9 million South Africans participated both during special votes, as well as during the elections yesterday,” Sheburi said during a Question and Answer session at media briefing on Thursday. 

Responding to questions about complaints and irregularities, Sheburi said the Commission had received just over 800 complaints by Wednesday night, with most relating to voting station staff allegedly preventing party agents from observing the voting and counting processes. 

He said the majority of the complaints have been resolved, with approximately 106 remaining open. 

Sheburi explained that the complaints received by the Commission were distinct from objections dealt with by presiding officers at voting stations.

Contestants also have an opportunity to lodge objections that could materially affect the outcome of declared results. These must be submitted by 17:00 on Friday.

Sheburi said the Commission would only be in a position to announce the final results once it has dealt with the objections. 

“The Commission, as we indicated yesterday, has seven days lawfully to declare the result. The Commission does not want to keep the country in angst and for that reason, it will release the result as soon as all objections have been dealt with.

“Lawfully, the Commission cannot release or declare the results before 17:00 hours tomorrow afternoon,” Sheburi said.

On the circulation of posters claiming that certain political parties have won particular wards, Sheburi cautioned that results displayed at voting stations should be treated as provisional, until formally declared by the Commission. 

He explained that results slips were completed in duplicate following the counting process at each voting station. One copy had been transported to a capturing site, while the other remained at the voting station as a public announcement of the provisional result.

“If it has not been altered or tampered with, treat it as a provisional result, until such time that the Commission announces the final result, because that result could still be subject to an objection that may lead to a recount and that result changes lawfully,” he said.

Meanwhile, IEC Vice Chairperson Janet Love urged South Africans to verify information before sharing it, particularly on social media, where unverified election results and misleading claims could spread quickly. 

She said the Commission has established a platform with civil society and media organisations to monitor and counter disinformation.

“We have urged people and continue to urge people to forward posts that they wish to get clarity on, or that they regard as disinformation to the Real411 platform,” Love said.

The Commission is also working with major social media platforms to address problematic posts relating to the electoral process. 

Love encouraged citizens to check information before reposting it, warning against sharing content that is intended to mislead or cause mischief.

“Lastly, I think we've really been reaching out quite extensively to everybody, and we wish to do that again, to really urge people -- as has been done today -- to verify information, to check and ensure that we don't just repost things that are plainly mischief-making,” she said.

IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo also explained that the length of ballot papers in metropolitan municipalities had affected the pace of results capturing.

He said the eight metros had particularly long ballots, which meant that counting and capturing would take longer.

“The reality of the situation is that in all the metros, the ballots were quite long. Now, the practical implications of that is it takes longer to count. It will similarly take longer to capture,” Mamabolo said.

He added that the absence of party agents' signatures on results slips did not invalidate them, provided they have been signed by the presiding officer.

The Commission said that, as at 09:00 on Thursday, 23 444 of the 66 073 expected results slips had been scanned into the results system, while 22 983 had been captured. Of the captured results slips, 16 791 had undergone independent auditing.

Results from 18 local municipalities had been concluded at that stage.

The IEC has urged political parties, independent candidates and their supporters to remain patient as the counting, verification and results-capturing processes continue, and to refrain from circulating unverified information about the outcome of the elections. – SAnews.gov.za

Source: Original report at SAnews.gov.za.