The Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) has begun the ward delimitation consultation process, which is crucial for establishing political boundaries for the elections next year.
Its work is scheduled to be concluded in October and a report will be handed to the Electoral Commission (IEC). The IEC will then realign the voting districts based on the new ward boundaries determined by the board to ensure accurate voter registration before the 2026 local government elections.
The process will be closely watched by political parties before the polls as increases in wards determine the size of municipal councils allowing for more representation. Redrawing ward boundaries can also significantly affect the distribution of political power, potentially benefiting specific parties or demographic groups.
The elections are expected to be fiercely contested among the various political parties who are looking to increase their respective share of votes within municipal councils. The ANC is seeking to claw back on its electoral losses from the 2021 and 2024 elections that resulted in coalitions at local and national level respectively. The DA, which entered into national government for the first time after the 2024 elections, is seeking to win metros particularly in Gauteng where it sits on opposition benches.
The official opposition, MK, will also be contesting the elections for the first time since its formation in 2023, introducing increased competition for parties who are already represented within local councils.
“Those wards represent the political boundaries within which the next general elections of municipal councils will be contested. In corresponding elections in 2021, there were 4,600,” the IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told reporters on Wednesday.
“On receipt of the ward boundaries, the Electoral Commission will in turn undertake an assessment to ensure that the boundaries of its network of 23,292 voting districts are aligned to the wards. In instances where, as a result of the demarcation of wards, voting districts no longer accord to the wards, the Electoral Commission will undertake projects to communicate and reregister the affected voters to ensure that they are registered in wards of ordinary residence.”
The elections will be held on November 2 2026 and January 30 2027 in line with the term limits of municipal councils outlined in the constitution. The date of the elections will be determined by the co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa.
Each municipality is divided into wards. During the elections, voters cast two ballots, one each for a ward councillor and a political party. Half the council seats go to ward winners while the other half are allocated to parties based on their overall vote share through proportional representation.
Since June 2024, the IEC has held 133 by-elections to replace ward councillors countrywide who left their positions for various reasons.
“Historically, in the period after a general election, parties change representatives from local to provincial or to the National Assembly. This accounts for the majority of the councillors that were replaced since the general elections in May last year,” Mamabolo said.
“In the period since elections last year the Electoral Commission has replaced 425 proportional representative councillors. On average the Electoral Commission replaces 353 [proportional representative] councillors in a financial year.”
Meanwhile, the IEC has also begun a six-month public consultation period on the feasibility of electronic voting before next year’s elections. However, the IEC said e-voting was unlikely to be used during next year’s elections.
The commission has “not yet made a decision on the use of e-voting, and certainly this is not contemplated for use in next year’s municipal elections”.
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