Electoral Commission of South Africa sets out 2026/27 local election schedule

TheElectoral Commission of South Africa(IEC) plans to hold the nextlocal government electionsbetween 2 November 2026 and 30 January 2027, with the official date to be determined by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MinisterVelenkosini Hlabisa. At the handover on Wednesday of the final ward boundaries to the IEC from the Municipal Demarcation Board, chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo urged Hlabini to announce the election date ahead of the proclamation. “It is our sincere wish as the commission that the date once determined be announced without it being proclaimed so that all stakeholders may have a good opportunity to prepare themselves and not be taken by surprise at a point where it is officially proclaimed,” Mamabolo said.

He noted that Hlabisa had started consulting the IEC on the election date after the 2021 local government elections were moved from August to November during the Covid-19 pandemic. Voter registrationweekends for the local government elections will take place in June and August 2026, Mamabolo said, adding: “We do anticipate conducting two registration weekends with approximately a four or five-week period in between.” “This is important so that voters are given maximum opportunity to register themselves, realising a registration weekend is a method of registration that provides us with the greatest registration yield,” he said. The chief electoral officer said online registration was improving, although it did not match the turnout of in-person registration weekends.

He said after the final registration weekend, the minister would proclaim the election date. “The effect of the proclamation of an election date is that persons who are registered on the day are the only ones who are eligible to participate in an impending election,” Mamabolo said. The department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, in consultation with the IEC, was still determining a date for the local elections, Hlabisa said, adding that holding them in November could disrupt school and university examinations, while December polls would be impractical.

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“If elections are in January, then political parties will be treating voters like Father Christmas,” he said. Hlabisa said the Municipal Demarcation Board had finalised the ward delimitation process after technical consultations that began in mid-2024 and were followed by public consultations in May 2025.

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