South Africans vote in local elections seen as test for embattled ANC

Polls suggest the governing party could fall below 40 percent as voters weigh failing services.

A voter casts her ballot, assisted by an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) polling station official at the Durban City Hall [Marco Longari/ AFP]

South Africans are voting in local elections widely seen as a verdict on the African National Congress (ANC), the party that led the country out of white minority rule in 1994 but has steadily lost support over the past decade.

Polls opened at 7am (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday and close at 9pm (19:00 GMT). A record 29.2 million people are registered to vote at 23,696 voting stations, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). More than 1.4 million special votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday.

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Voters are electing councils for the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district councils and 205 local councils. Those councils then choose mayors.

The ANC fell below 50 percent in municipal polls for the first time in 2021. In the 2024 national election, it lost its parliamentary majority and was forced into a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other parties. Polls suggest the ANC’s support could drop below 40 percent this time.

“Municipal failures have contributed to declining public trust and confidence in democratic governance,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter, “From the Desk of the President”.

Ramaphosa is due to vote at Hyde Park High School in Johannesburg, the presidency said.

Johannesburg is the biggest prize in this election. The country’s financial capital has had five mayors in four years.

The DA has fielded its 75-year-old former leader, Helen Zille , for the city’s top job. Her campaign stunts included snorkelling in a mud-filled trench that was flooded by a burst municipal water pipe.

A News24 poll put Zille at 36 percent, meaning she would need coalition partners, particularly the ANC, to govern. Zille told the Associated Press news agency that the ANC was “in free fall”.

This is the first local vote for former President Jacob Zuma ’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which is mounting a strong challenge in the coastal city of Durban.

“We are going to start by taking back our country here,” Zuma told supporters in the city on Sunday, the AFP news agency reported. Durban has become a centre of anti-migrant sentiment, a prominent theme in the campaign.

Turnout may be a concern. Only 46 percent of registered voters took part in the 2021 municipal elections.

Coalition government is already widespread: 74 of the country’s 257 municipalities were run by coalitions or minority administrations as of February, according to the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.

Security has also been tightened. Police said 21 election-related cases have been recorded since Sunday. KwaZulu-Natal has 165 voting stations classed as high risk, the most of any province.

Final results are expected on Sunday. They are expected to shape the race to succeed Ramaphosa as ANC leader at the party’s conference in December 2027.

A drone view shows people queueing to vote outside a polling station during local government elections in the Lawley informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, South Africa, November 4, 2026 [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]

民调显示，由于选民权衡服务质量下降的影响，执政党的支持率可能跌破 40%。

在德班市政厅，一名选民在独立选举委员会 (IEC) 投票站工作人员的协助下投票。[Marco Longari/ 法新社]

南非民众正在参加地方选举，这次选举被广泛视为对非洲人国民大会（非国大）的一次评判。非国大在 1994 年带领南非摆脱了白人少数统治，但在过去十年中，其支持率一直在稳步下降。

投票于周三早上7点（格林尼治标准时间05:00）开始，晚上9点（格林尼治标准时间19:00）结束。据南非选举委员会（IEC）统计，共有创纪录的2920万人登记投票，投票站共设23696个。周一和周二共投出超过140万张特殊选票。

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选民将选举该国八个大都会区、44个区议会和205个地方议会的议员。这些议会随后将选举市长。

2021年，非国大在市政选举中的支持率首次跌破50%。在2024年的全国大选中，非国大失去了议会多数席位，被迫与民主联盟（DA）及其他政党组成联合政府。民调显示，此次非国大的支持率可能跌破40%。

“市政管理的失败导致公众对民主治理的信任和信心下降，”西里尔·拉马福萨总统在其每周通讯《总统信笺》中写道。

总统府表示，拉马福萨将在约翰内斯堡海德公园高中投票。

约翰内斯堡是本次选举中最大的“奖品”。这座南非的金融中心在四年内已经换了五位市长。

地方检察官办公室推举其75岁的前领导人海伦·齐勒竞选市长。她的竞选噱头包括在被爆裂的市政水管淹没的泥泞沟渠中浮潜。

News24的民调显示，齐勒的支持率仅为36%，这意味着她需要联合执政伙伴，尤其是非国大，才能执政。齐勒告诉美联社，非国大“正处于自由落体式的衰落之中”。

这是前总统雅各布·祖马的民族之矛党（uMkhonto weSizwe，简称MK）首次参加地方选举，该党在沿海城市德班发起强有力的挑战。

据法新社报道，祖马周日在德班向支持者表示：“我们将从夺回我们的国家开始。”德班已成为反移民情绪的中心，而反移民情绪也是此次竞选活动的一个重要主题。

投票率可能令人担忧。2021年市政选举中，只有46%的登记选民参加了投票。

联合政府已经很普遍：据马蓬古布韦战略反思研究所称，截至 2 月，该国 257 个市政当局中有 74 个由联合政府或少数派政府管理。

安保措施也已加强。警方称，自周日以来已记录了21起与选举相关的案件。夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省有165个投票站被列为高风险地点，是所有省份中最多的。

最终结果预计将于周日公布。这些结果预计将影响2027年12月非国大党代会上拉马福萨继任者的人选。

2026年11月4日，在南非约翰内斯堡南部劳利非正式定居点举行的地方政府选举中，无人机拍摄的画面显示，人们在投票站外排队投票。[Siphiwe Sibeko/路透社]