JOHANNESBURG-(MaraviPost)-South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) remains the country’s largest party in the 2026 local elections, but early results show a nation moving decisively away from one-party dominance and toward coalition rule.
With 72% of votes counted in the party-list ballot, the ANC is on 31.94% support, according to provisional figures from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) via The Outlier. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is second on 24.76%, followed by former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) on 8.94% and Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on 6.17%.
The figures, based on 69% of seats and councils counted, are provisional. Final results are expected on Sunday.
The numbers so far
ANC — 31.94%
- 1,483 seats
- Leading in 62 councils
- In outright control of 21 councils
DA — 24.76%
- 742 seats
- Leading in 19 councils
- In outright control of 6 councils
MKP — 8.94%
- 283 seats
- Leading in 10 councils
- In outright control of 3 councils
EFF — 6.17%
- 139 seats
- Leading in 0 councils
- In outright control of 0 councils
The picture is clear: no party is close to sweeping the country’s 257 municipalities. Even where the ANC leads, it will in most councils need coalition partners to govern. The same is true for the DA in its strongholds outside the Western Cape.
Why voters shifted
Local elections in South Africa are not about who becomes president. They are about water, electricity, roads, refuse removal and jobs at municipal level.
For years, voters in many ANC-run municipalities have complained of broken services, unreliable water supply, power cuts linked to local distribution failures, and corruption in tendering. The opposition has campaigned heavily on that record, promising cleaner governance and better service delivery.
The DA has grown its share by presenting itself as the party of competent administration, particularly in the Western Cape and parts of Gauteng. The MKP, formed less than three years ago, has consolidated support in KwaZulu-Natal and among voters disillusioned with the ANC, while the EFF has struggled to convert its national profile into local council control.
Political analysts say the early results suggest South Africans are voting less on history and loyalty, and more on performance. Disappointment with incumbents, rather than enthusiasm for any single challenger, is driving the fragmentation.
The bigger backdrop: cost of living
The elections are taking place against a difficult economic backdrop that was highlighted this week by another major regional story.
Just two days ago, Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote broke ground on a US$2.5 billion fuel storage hub at Walvis Bay in Namibia, including a 600-million-litre tank farm and a planned pipeline network of up to 2,600km to supply Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and the DRC.
The project was launched on the same day Namibia raised petrol prices, a reminder of how fuel costs continue to squeeze households across Southern Africa.
South Africa, like its neighbours, remains heavily exposed to global oil prices, exchange-rate swings and transport bottlenecks. For voters, that translates into higher taxi fares, higher food prices and higher costs for small businesses. For municipalities, it means higher running costs and tighter budgets.
Dangote’s plan — to move fuel by pipeline rather than by thousands of road tankers — is aimed at cutting those costs for landlocked countries and for South Africa’s industrial heartland. Its long-term success, however, will depend on financing, cross-border approvals and political stability in the very municipalities now being contested.
What happens next
If the trend in the provisional results holds, coalition negotiations will begin immediately after the final results are declared on Sunday.
In councils where no party has an outright majority, smaller parties will become kingmakers. That has been the pattern since the 2021 local elections, when hung councils became the norm in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay.
For the ANC, the challenge is to retain control of key metros by building coalitions without losing its identity. For the DA, the challenge is to prove it can govern beyond its traditional base. For the MKP and EFF, the challenge is to turn votes into real power at local level.
What is already certain is that South Africa’s local political map will look very different after this election — more fragmented, more competitive, and more dependent on negotiation than at any time since democracy in 1994.
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