ANC Falls to About 31 Percent in Worst Local Election Result, Official Count Confirms

South Africa's Electoral Commission announced the official results of the November 4 local government elections on Sunday, November 8, 2026, confirming the worst result in the history of the African National Congress. The ANC took about 31 percent of the national municipal vote, down from about 46 percent in the 2021 local elections.

The Democratic Alliance finished second with about 25 percent. Former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe Party took about 10 percent, followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters on about 6 percent and ActionSA on about 6 percent.

The commission's results board showed the ANC leading in 128 municipalities and holding outright control of 53. The DA was leading in 32 municipalities and controlling 12.

Cities slip away

The ANC failed to win an outright majority in most of the country's eight big metropolitan municipalities. The DA finished as the largest party in Johannesburg, in Tshwane, which includes the capital Pretoria, and in Ekurhuleni, and it kept control of Cape Town. In Johannesburg, the DA led with about 35 percent of the vote against about 20 percent for the ANC, according to the near complete count reported by Reuters.

Reuters reported that the ANC has lost support in local elections for 15 years, driven largely by failures in basic services such as water and electricity. The party still finished first nationally, but its margin over the DA narrowed to about six points.

In eThekwini, the municipality that includes Durban, the MK Party won about 38.5 percent of the proportional representation vote, finishing ahead of the ANC in a city the ruling party once counted as a stronghold, The Times reported. The count also left about 110 councils hung in the provisional tallies reported during the count, with no single party holding a majority.

Fourteen days of talks

Because no party won more than half the vote in many cities, parties now have 14 days to negotiate before the new councils are formed, Reuters reported. The ANC and the DA govern together in the national unity government, and the talks in the big cities will test that arrangement at local level.

The result leaves the ANC as the largest party in the country and a weaker one, holding fewer councils outright than at any point since it came to power in 1994. Coalition bargaining, not the count, decides who runs Johannesburg and the other hung metros now.