By Johnathan Paoli
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has received 197 objections relating to the 2026 local government elections, with recounts ordered in five wards across four municipalities as the commission moves towards declaring the final results on Sunday night.
The IEC said on Saturday that results processing was nearing completion, with six municipalities still outstanding, while it continued to determine objections that could materially affect election outcomes.
“As at 15h00 today, 7 November 2026, the Commission had received 197 objections. Out of these, 54 have been dismissed, 8 were withdrawn, while 2 have been upheld,” the commission said.
Following the two upheld objections, the IEC ordered one edit window and recounts affecting five wards across four municipalities.
These include wards 57 and 102 in the City of Tshwane, at Village Montessori School and Patt Projects respectively; ward 19 in Mangaung Metro, at Ehrlich Park Fire Station; ward 4 in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, at Shalom Church Centre; and ward 12 in Breede Valley Local Municipality, at Christian Light Ministries.
The commission said that objections lodged under Section 65 of the Municipal Electoral Act must concern matters material to the final election results, including voting, counting, alleged unlawful interference with election activities and voter intimidation.
The deadline for lodging objections expired at 5pm on Friday, 6 November, although the IEC said it could accept late written objections where good cause was shown under Section 65(3) of the Municipal Electoral Act.
It also cautioned against confusing formal objections with ordinary complaints, saying the two processes were not interchangeable.
“The Commission wishes to clarify that objections envisioned under Section 65 are not synonymous with complaints. To facilitate definitive election outcomes, objections are limited to matters that are material to the result.”
The IEC said complaints concerning ward demarcation disputes, political parties’ internal candidate selection processes and alleged breaches of the Electoral Code of Conduct generally fell outside the objections process, unless they related to voter intimidation or voting and counting.
The commission has the authority to investigate objections and either uphold or dismiss them. Where an objection is upheld before results are declared, it may exclude votes from a voting station, deduct votes from a party or candidate, or reduce their recorded totals.
If an objection is upheld after the results have been declared, the IEC may amend the results or refer the matter to the Electoral Court if the seriousness and extent of alleged unlawful conduct or irregularities warrant setting aside an election.
The commission warned that the provisional results, including the allocation of council seats, could still change.
“Results remain provisional until all objections have been determined by the Commission. Pertinently, that provisional results may change as a consequence of the determination of an objection. In this regard seats that are assigned in the provisional results may change because of the decision of the Commission in determining an objection,” it said.
Meanwhile, results processing had been completed in all municipalities in the Free State, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Outstanding processing remained in Emfuleni, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni in Gauteng; Rustenburg in North West; and Msunduzi and eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal.
The IEC said results in the remaining municipalities were expected to be finalised by Saturday evening.
“The Commission will spare no effort to finalise the objections before it announces the election results,” the statement said.
The commission plans to announce the results at 6pm on Sunday.
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