The Electoral Commission (IEC) said 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots by 10:00 on Wednesday 4 November, the first three hours after stations opened at 07:00.
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Sheburi gave the preliminary figures at a media briefing at the results operations centre in Midrand. Gauteng recorded 895,384 votes, KwaZulu-Natal 623,380, the Western Cape 461,264 and the Eastern Cape 431,123. Limpopo recorded 366,378, Mpumalanga 252,859, North West 204,736, the Free State 195,537 and the Northern Cape 93,030.
According to the Commission, 98% of the country’s 23,696 voting stations had opened by 07:00. A few opened by 09:00 because of local protests and heavy rain in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Sheburi said all ballot papers had been delivered to voting stations, a few shortly after voting began.
“The Voter Management Devices are functioning optimally, supporting the smooth processing and verification of voters at voting stations,” Sheburi said. The Commission said handheld barcode scanners and sequence numbers on the voters’ roll were meant to shorten verification time.
The Commission also reported the theft of unused ballot papers and a stamp from a voting station in Ward 2 in eThekwini. It said the ward has 20 voting stations and that ballots must carry a stamp on the back to be valid, so any stolen ballots that surface could be identified. A case has been opened with the South African Police Service, and the staff at that station were relieved of duty, Sheburi said.
Source: Independent Electoral Commission, preliminary figures at 10:00, 4 November 2026. Chart: Rand Desk
President Cyril Ramaphosa voted at Hyde Park High School in Johannesburg. According to SAnews, he said the queues across the country made it “a very special and historic day”, and that “a new crop of councillors is going to come through now”.
Voters in local municipalities receive three ballot papers: a grey ward ballot, a green party ballot for the local council and a yellow ballot for the district council. Voters in metropolitan municipalities receive two. Marking more than one choice on a ballot, or adding other marks, may spoil it, Sheburi said.
Special voting on 2 and 3 November had already recorded 1,425,942 votes, in the Commission’s statement on 3 November. Those votes are counted with today’s ballots. The Commission has not said whether the 10:00 figure includes them.
The Commission reported 29.2 million registered voters and 188,000 officials deployed at the 23,696 stations in its 3 November statement. Voting stations are open from 07:00 to 21:00 on Wednesday, according to the Commission’s 3 November statement.
