Developing story: figures are provisional and may change as the Electoral Commission completes verification.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says about 98% of results from the 4 November local government elections had been captured by mid-morning on Saturday, and it expects to finish capturing results this afternoon.

In a post on X on Saturday, the IEC said it "continues to capture and verify results received from voting stations". Results remain provisional until verification and objection processes are complete.

Where the count stood on Friday

At 5pm on Friday, the IEC reported 91% national completion of results, according to a government news service report. The Commission expected 66,073 result slips from 23,696 voting stations, and results had been finalised in 150 of the 213 municipalities.

Provincial completion at that point ranged from 100% in the Northern Cape and 98% in the Free State to 75% in Gauteng. The Commission said most outstanding results were in metros and that long ballot papers, caused by the large number of contestants, had made result slips longer.

What remains to be done

Capturing is only one step. The IEC has said results remain provisional until all objections and verification processes have been concluded. It earlier said it aimed to declare final results by the weekend.

The IEC also rejected claims on social media about results in Emalahleni, saying turnout in the wards concerned was just over 50%, and called a claim that a municipal official voted four times misleading.

What we do not yet know

  • The time and format of the IEC's final results declaration have not been confirmed in the material we reviewed.
  • A figure of 15.9 million voters has been attributed to government. At the time of writing, official turnout figures from the IEC had not been released. Government deputy spokesperson William Baloyi called the turnout "an important milestone".
  • Which councils will be hung, and how coalition talks will unfold, depends on the final seat allocations.

We will update this story as the IEC releases further figures.