The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) said on Friday that 90% of voters were confident the 4 November local government elections were free and 91% were satisfied they were fair.
Dr Ben Roberts, the HSRC researcher, presented the findings of its 2026 Election Satisfaction Survey to the media at the national results operations centre in Midrand. The survey was done for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), according to SAnews, the government news agency.
On ballot secrecy, 95% of voters were satisfied that their vote stayed secret, and 83% were completely or very confident it would be counted accurately. “Voter confidence in ballot secrecy remains exceptionally high and remarkably consistent over time,” Roberts said.
Trust in the Commission itself is lower and falling. The latest reading is 81%. The earlier surveys gave 85% in 2024, 89% in 2021, 93% in 2019 and 91% in 2016. Another 5% said they distrusted the Commission, and 14% were neutral, unsure or did not answer.
Trust differed by province. The Eastern Cape led at 87%, with the Northern Cape on 85%, the Free State on 84% and the Western Cape on 83%. Mpumalanga recorded 81% and Limpopo 80%, North West and Gauteng 79% each, and KwaZulu-Natal 72%.
Source: Human Sciences Research Council 2026 Election Satisfaction Survey, via SAnews. Chart: Rand Desk
The HSRC said voters who trusted the Commission credited its competence, professionalism and impartiality and its track record. Voters who distrusted it gave reasons that included perceived corruption, doubts over the count, political bias and earlier controversies. Some respondents said rumours and reports about earlier electoral disputes had shaped their view.
Queues and service
The survey found that 91% of voters queued for no more than 30 minutes, which the HSRC said was better than at the 2024 national and provincial elections. It said waiting times had returned to the levels of the 2021 local elections. Roberts said 90% of voters travelled no more than 30 minutes to reach their station.
Some 95% were satisfied with the service of electoral officials. Officials were rated on six qualities, and the share of voters who rated each quality highly was 79% for helpfulness, 78% for patience, 78% for professionalism, 77% for friendliness, 74% for trustworthiness and 65% for impartiality.
Of the voters surveyed, 86% considered stations accessible to elderly people and people with disabilities, whether or not the voter had a disability. Ratings were lower for blind and partially sighted voters, expectant mothers and parents with babies, mostly because respondents were unsure.
Information and the ballot
Inside the station, 58% found the procedures very easy to understand and 38% found them easy. Even so, 13% said they had far too little information on how to vote and another 13% said too little. The Eastern Cape had the largest share of voters short of information. The Northern Cape had the smallest.
On the ballot paper, 93% said it was easy to find their preferred party or candidate and 94% were satisfied with the ballot papers. Of respondents, 60% called the IEC’s voter education campaign very effective and 28% somewhat effective. Radio and television were each rated very useful by 61% of voters, and social media by 59%.
Fieldworkers interviewed randomly chosen voters at 300 stations through the day, and 13,198 interviews were finished across the nine provinces. The HSRC put the realisation rate at 88% and the margin of error under 1%.
The HSRC has carried out the survey since 1999. It is one of the measures used to judge whether an election was free and fair, and its results are read out as part of the official election declaration.
The IEC said in its 5 November update that final results are due on Sunday 8 November. See also the Commission’s earlier updates: KwaZulu-Natal slip capture, results capturing and law enforcement and election day turnout.
