ANC vote share tumbles in South Africa’s still-partial local count

South Africa’s African National Congress was leading the municipal election count on Thursday but with a sharply reduced share. Reuters reported that with 36% of votes counted around midday, the ANC had about 32% and the Democratic Alliance about 27%. The Electoral Commission’s live dashboard remained the authoritative source and the count was still moving, so those figures are a snapshot rather than a declared national result.

If the early share holds, the ANC would fall by about 14 percentage points from its 45.6% in the 2021 local elections. The DA was performing strongly in several metropolitan areas and had an expected lead in Cape Town. Johannesburg remained too close to call, while former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party and the Inkatha Freedom Party were ahead of the ANC in parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Geographic differences in which districts have reported can distort early national percentages.

No party is expected to win outright control in several large municipalities. Once results are declared, parties will have two weeks to negotiate governing coalitions. The consequential shift is therefore not a confirmed winner but a deeper era of fragmented municipal power: final totals, city-level seat allocations and coalition agreements will determine who actually governs.