President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared 4 November 2026 a public holiday for the local government elections.
The holiday means South Africans will get the day off on Wednesday, 4 November, giving voters time to head to the polls.
The local government elections will decide who represents communities in municipal councils across the country.
And this year’s race is expected to be a big one, with 142,072 candidates competing for 10,526 council seats.
According to the IEC, 546 of the 732 registered political parties have put forward candidates. That means roughly three-quarters of all registered parties are taking part.
The candidate submission process wrapped up at 5pm on 28 August, with parties and independent candidates submitting their names online or at IEC offices.
Next up, the IEC is expected to release the final candidate list on 16 September.
Candidates will then receive their official Certificates of Candidacy on 25 September, ahead of election day on 4 November.
