Election results 2026: DA gaining ground in South Africa’s richest city as ANC crumbles
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is inching closer to control in South Africa’s richest city, Johannesburg, a key battleground in 2026’s municipal elections.
With votes still being counted, the DA is at 40.55% on the morning of Thursday, 5 November, while the African National Congress (ANC) is at 17.49%.
This is according to the Newsday Election Results Portal, which delivers live results from the Independent Electoral Commission.
Ahead of the elections on Wednesday, 4 November, Johannesburg has become one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds between the ANC and the DA.
As South Africa’s richest city, headquarters to many of the country’s largest companies, and home to the JSE, Johannesburg plays a critical role in the local economy.
Service delivery and infrastructure in the city have come under severe pressure in recent years, largely driven by mismanagement at the municipal level.
The City of Johannesburg has experienced political instability for years, with a revolving door of leadership.
The metropolitan municipality has had nine different mayoral administrations since 2016, driven by shifting council coalitions and repeated motions of no confidence.
For years, the ANC was the governing party of Johannesburg, but since 2016, no single party has held an outright majority in the 270-seat council.
This means the city has had to rely on broad, fragile, multi-party coalitions, which have included the ANC, the DA, the Freedom Front Plus, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Currently, an ANC-led coalition leads Johannesburg, in partnership with the EFF and minority parties such as Al Jama-ah, the Patriotic Alliance, and ActionSA.
Ahead of the elections, both the DA and ANC have been engaged in a heated battle for the city, with the DA’s charge led by veteran politician Helen Zille.
Zille has been campaigning for the mayoral position, promising to address the city’s severe service delivery and basic infrastructure concerns.
As vote counting continues, the DA is currently at 40.55%, the ANC at 17.49%, and other parties at 41.96%.
In 2021, the ANC received the most votes in Johannesburg, at 33.60%, while the DA was in second place with 26.14%.
At the national level, 21% of votes have been counted for the 2026 elections. The ANC has received 1.34 million votes, with the DA following with 1.27 million and the MK Party in third with 240,000 votes.
In percentage terms, the ANC is at 32.09% nationally, with the DA at 28.62%.
DA Federal Council Chairperson Ashor Sarupen said on Thursday that the opposition party has benefited from an increase in black voters nationwide.
He said that, for the first time in the DA’s history, more than one million black South Africans will have voted for the party.
“Our projections also indicate that the DA will have received more votes from black South Africans than the EFF,” he said.
