The Electoral Commission (IEC) is gearing up for the 2026 Local Government Elections (LGE) with the Commission having begun consultations with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, IEC Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, said the law provides that the term of a municipal council is five years and that elections must be held no later than 90 days following the end of the term.
The current municipal councils were elected on 1 November 2021.
“This means that the current term will end on 2 November 2026. Therefore, the general elections of municipal councils fall due between 2 November 2026 and the end of January 2027.
“The authority to set a date and call an election lies with the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs following consultation with the Commission.
“Consultations between the Minister and the Commission have commenced, but are yet to be concluded,” he said at the briefing held in Centurion, Pretoria.
Pivotal role
He added that the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) plays a pivotal role in shaping the political geography of the country through the determination of both municipal and ward boundaries.
Municipal wards are the political boundaries within which a single councillor is elected based on the first-past-the-post principle.
“The MDB has indicated that it is about to conclude the process of ward delimitation. Crucially, the MDB will hand over final ward boundaries to the Commission at the end of October 2025. There will, however, be a residual of 18 municipalities that will be handed over at a later stage. The latter case relates to municipalities that were subject to requests for the review of external municipal boundaries.”
Mamabolo said engagements with the MDB are planned to agree on the precise date for the receipt of wards for these residual municipalities.
Once the MDB provides the final set of wards to the Commission, the Commission will analyse its network of voting districts to ensure that they are geographically aligned to the final ward boundaries in preparation for voter registration ahead of LGE 2026-2027.
Meanwhile, the Commission said the 2024 National and Provincial Elections met international standards for freeness and fairness and met the constitutional and legal standards.
Elections report
This as the Commission tabled the 2024 elections report in the National Assembly in early July. The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs invited the Commission to a presentation of the report on 15 July.
It said that in the 2024 elections that were held in May, there were 27.78 million registered voters, which is the highest since 1999 when the voters’ roll was first introduced.
There was also increased litigation with 88 cases challenging various aspects of the electoral process.
“The Electoral Commission prevailed in all except one, which relates to establishing special voting stations outside of the official foreign missions of the Republic. An appeal is pending in the Supreme Court of Appeal on this matter,” said the Commission.
At the conclusion of the session in July, the Portfolio Committee welcomed the report, acknowledged that there were areas for improvement, and commended the Commission for delivering free, fair, and credible elections.
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