Ward, PR and district ballots: how your vote becomes council seats
Vaal voters get three ballots in the 2026 local government elections, and metro voters get two. Here is what each ballot does, what you need to vote, and how the IEC turns votes into seats, with a simple worked example.
By Staff Reporter · Published
As at 4 November 2026.
- Voting day is Wednesday 4 November 2026. Voting stations are open from 07:00 to 21:00.1,2
- Bring your ID. That means a green barcoded ID book, a smart ID card or a valid temporary identity certificate from Home Affairs.3
- Leave other cards at home. Driver’s licences, passports, student cards and photocopies of ID documents are not accepted.15
- Vote where you are registered. In these elections you may vote only at the voting station where you are registered.3,4
- Count your ballots. Voters in Emfuleni, Midvaal, Lesedi and Metsimaholo get three ballots. Voters in a metro such as Johannesburg or Ekurhuleni get two.5
The voters’ roll
The voters’ roll closed at midnight on 7 August 2026, when the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs proclaimed the election date. After that, no new registrations or changes to registration details were accepted for these elections.2,6 The IEC’s timetable set 26 August 2026 as the date for the chief electoral officer to certify the final roll.2
On 3 November 2026 the IEC’s website gave its current voter registration figure as 29,230,808.7
To check where you are registered, SMS your ID number to 32810 (R1 per SMS), send it on WhatsApp to 0600 88 0000 or call the IEC Contact Centre on 0800 11 8000.3
Special votes
The IEC approved 2,655,067 special votes for these elections: 678,525 home visits and 1,976,542 votes at voting stations. They were cast on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 November.3
Special votes are not counted on the days they are cast. They are kept secure and counted together with the ballots cast on voting day.3 The IEC says approved home-visit voters who were missed can still vote at their voting station on 4 November.3
At the voting station
Officials check your ID and find your name on the voters’ roll. They mark your thumbnail with ink, which stops anyone voting twice, and then give you your ballot papers.15 Make one clear cross next to your choice on each ballot. Don’t sign the ballot or write your name on it. If you make a mistake, don’t put the ballot in the box. Ask the presiding officer for help.15
Three ballots, three jobs
| Ballot | Colour | What it elects |
|---|---|---|
| Ward ballot | Grey | Your ward councillor. The candidate with the most votes in the ward wins.5,8 |
| Local council PR ballot | Green | Party representatives on your local council, from party lists.5 |
| District council ballot | Yellow | Party representatives for 40% of the district council’s seats.5 |
In a metro, the second ballot (yellow) is the metro’s PR ballot, and there is no district ballot.5 You may vote for a different party or candidate on each ballot.
Independent candidates appear only on ward ballots. PR seats are filled from party lists.9
How seats are worked out
Metro and local councils use a mixed system. Half the seats are ward seats (rounded up if the total is odd), and the rest are proportional representation (PR) seats.8,10 The PR seats top up each party so that its total share of the council reflects its share of the vote. Schedule 1 of the Municipal Structures Act sets out the steps:8
- Add up each party’s votes. The count includes the party’s PR votes plus the votes cast for its ward candidates.
- Work out the quota. Divide the total of all party votes by the number of seats, less any seats won by independent ward candidates. Then add one and ignore fractions.
- Share out the seats. Divide each party’s votes by the quota. Any seats still unfilled go to the parties with the largest remainders.
- Subtract the wards each party has won. What is left is filled from the party’s list, in the order the party ranked its candidates.
A worked example
The numbers below are invented to show the method. They are not real results.
Take a 20-seat council with 10 wards and no independent winners. The parties win 20,000 votes in total, so the quota is 20,000 ÷ 20 + 1 = 1,001.
| Party | Votes | ÷ 1,001 | First seats | Remainder seat | Total | Wards won | PR seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 9,000 | 8.99 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
| B | 7,000 | 6.99 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| C | 3,000 | 2.997 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| D | 1,000 | 0.999 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
The first round fills 16 seats; the four left over go to the largest remainders, one to each party. Party A won 7 wards, so it gets 2 PR seats to reach 9. Party D won no wards but still gets a seat.
When a party wins too many wards
Sometimes a party wins more wards than its share of the vote would give it. It keeps every ward it won but gets no PR seats, and the remaining seats are shared among the other parties using a new quota.8,11
That happened in Emfuleni in 2021. The council had 90 seats, 45 of them wards. The largest party won 38 wards, more than its vote share entitled it to, so it got no PR seats. The other 52 seats went to the other parties on a quota of 3,460 votes a seat.12
By law, the IEC must declare the results within seven days of the election.14 Once the results are declared, new councils must hold their first meetings. For what happens then, read Hung councils and coalitions explained (coming soon).
- Series guide: How local government works: a Vaal guide for the 2026 elections and after
- Metros, districts and local municipalities explained (coming soon)
- Who does what: water, power, roads, refuse, housing and policing (coming soon)
- Ward, PR and district ballots: how your vote becomes seats (you are here)
- Ward and PR councillors: what yours can and can’t do (coming soon)
- Mayor, speaker, whip and municipal manager explained (coming soon)
- Hung councils and coalitions explained (coming soon)
- Emfuleni’s money: budgets, audits and section 139 (coming soon)
- How to hold your council to account (coming soon)
- Local Government Elections 2026 (event page), Electoral Commission of South Africa
- Electoral Commission publishes the 2026 LGE Election Timetable, Electoral Commission (7 August 2026)
- Electoral Commission ready for successful Special Voting and Election Days, 2 to 4 November 2026, Electoral Commission (1 November 2026)
- Electoral Commission ramps up readiness, transparency and capacity ahead of LGE 2026, Electoral Commission (October 2026)
- 2026 Municipal Elections Observer Handbook, Electoral Commission, pp 16–17
- Minister gazettes date of Local Government Elections, SAnews (7 August 2026)
- IEC home page: current voter registration figure, Electoral Commission (checked 3 November 2026)
- Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 (consolidated to 1 November 2022), section 22 and Schedule 1, items 8–13 and 16, LawLibrary
- Electoral Commission certifies 136 790 candidates to contest the 2026 Local Government Elections, Electoral Commission via gov.za (September 2026)
- Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 7: Local Government, section 157, Department of Justice
- Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Act 3 of 2021, section 33 (excessive seats), Government Gazette 44647, gov.za (1 June 2021)
- Seat calculation detail, Emfuleni (GT421), Local Government Election 2021, Electoral Commission
- Ward boundaries finalised ahead of local elections, SAnews (11 December 2025)
- Electoral Commission Act 51 of 1996, section 5(1)(n), gov.za
- Ready to vote? Know what to expect on Election Day, SAnews (November 2026)
Forecasts mentioned
- Vereeniging 7-day forecast
- Vanderbijlpark 7-day forecast
- Sasolburg 7-day forecast
- Meyerton 7-day forecast
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