Election results 2026: ANC support plunges and DA on the charge

South Africa’s municipal election results are beginning to come in, with 15% of voting districts declared so far.

• Click here to visit the Newsday Election Results Portal.

Early results show that the ANC’s support has plummeted around the country by 13.14 percentage points compared to 2021. 

In contrast, the Democratic Alliance’s support has surged by 8.68 percentage points. 

As it stands nationally, the ANC has 32.45% of the vote, and the DA has 30.34%. The DA is leading in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

This is according to the Newsday Election Results Portal, which delivers live results from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The IEC reported that voting went smoothly, with no major hiccups or problems at South Africa’s 23,696 voting stations. 

So far, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has put out its first national prediction of the final results of the government elections. 

Using data from 11.5% of voting districts, the CSIR forecasts the ANC to end with 31.5% of the national vote and the DA to have 26%. 

They will be followed by the MK Party at 9%. Currently, according to Newsday’s portal, the MK Party is leading in KwaZulu-Natal. 

The Freedom Front Plus is on track to be South Africa’s fourth-largest party, the CSIR said. 

This comes as support for the Economic Freedom Fighters plunges by 5.45 percentage points compared to 2021. 

The fall in support for the ANC was largely expected as South Africans became increasingly dissatisfied with service delivery failures. 

Political analyst Frans Cronje said this is a clear signal of regime change in South Africa, with the country historically being dominated by a single party for the past 80 years. 

Since 2024, this hold has been broken by coalition governments at a national and local level. 

Cronje said South Africa is undergoing a two-step regime-change process, with the first step being electoral losses for the ANC. 

This step is largely complete, as 90% of South Africans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction and voter support for the ANC continues to drop.

The second step is for people to gain confidence that a new regime will defend its interests and should be supported.

Cronje said this step is not yet complete because no single political party has built enough trust among the broader population to gain total control.

Visit the Newsday Election Results Portal here.