Counting starts the moment polls close as 12 million defy the odds to vote

Counting will start on Wednesday night, immediately after voting stations close at 21h00. The ballots will be counted at the same voting stations where they were cast, rather than being transported elsewhere first.

That was the message from the Electoral Commission on Wednesday evening as South Africa moved from voting to the most sensitive phase of the 2026 Local Government Elections, the count.

With less than three hours left before polls closed, the Commission confirmed that preliminary figures showed 12 million voters had already cast their ballots by 17h00.

It is a number that has surprised even the IEC. After weeks of warnings about voter apathy, service delivery anger and distrust in politics, South Africans turned out in numbers that forced the Commission to acknowledge the moment.

The Commission said it is pleased with encouraging turnout at many voting stations across the country.

Gauteng led the turnout with 3 million voters, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 2.5 million, the Western Cape with 1.5 million and the Eastern Cape with 1.4 million. Limpopo recorded 1.1 million, Mpumalanga 854 901, North West 702 137, Free State 588 237 and the Northern Cape 299 381.

Those figures are preliminary, but they tell a political story. Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the two provinces where power is most fiercely contested, drove the turnout.

In metros where coalitions have collapsed and councils have failed to deliver water, electricity and refuse removal, voters did not stay home. They showed up.

The Commission is now urging those who have not yet voted to use the remaining time.

It reassured voters that anyone who arrives at a voting station before 21h00 will be allowed to vote, even if the voting process extends beyond the official closing time. Voters who are in the queue by 21h00 will not be turned away.

Counting will commence at every voting station soon after the closing of voting stations. All ballot papers will be counted at the voting station where they are cast, in the presence of party agents, independent candidate agents and accredited observers.

Sealed ballot boxes will be opened, and ballot papers will be checked for the Electoral Commission's security stamp. Ballots will then be sorted and counted separately for each contest, namely the proportional representation ballot, the ward candidate ballot and, where applicable, the district council PR ballot.

Following the count, the results for each contest will be reconciled against the ballot papers received, issued, unused, spoilt and counted at the voting station. Results slips will be captured in duplicate, signed by the Presiding Officer, and countersigned by party agents before being displayed at the voting station as soon as counting and tallying are completed.

Party agents are allowed to take pictures of the signed result slips. The results will subsequently be scanned and captured at the local Electoral Commission office and subjected to verification and independent external auditing.

The Commission says the Results Operations Centres will provide political parties, independent candidates, observers and the media with an opportunity to monitor the capturing, verification and processing of results, reinforcing the transparency and integrity of the process.

Once counting, capturing and verification have been completed and outstanding queries resolved, the Electoral Commission will declare the final results and announce the allocation of seats in municipal councils within the prescribed seven-day period.

For that process to work, the lights must stay on. And on Wednesday night, in parts of the country, they did not.

The Commission confirmed that adequate arrangements have been made to ensure the availability of generators and alternative lighting facilities at voting stations in areas that have experienced electricity outages, thereby ensuring that the counting process proceeds without unnecessary disruption.

The IEC says counting will continue despite electricity outages. Generators and alternative lighting have been provided at affected voting stations to allow ballot boxes to be opened, ballots to be checked and results slips to be signed without interruption.