Wednesday, 4 November 2026 Updated 28 min ago
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ANC expected to fall below a third of vote as South Africans head to local polls

The Guardian reported that the African National Congress is on track for a bruising result in South Africa’s local elections on Wednesday.

Image accompanying the story: ANC expected to fall below a third of vote as South Africans head to local polls
Image: Photograph: Themba Hadebe/AP · via The Guardian

The Guardian reported that the African National Congress is on track for a bruising result in South Africa’s local elections on Wednesday. Voters are heading to the polls amid deep frustration over water outages, power cuts and crumbling infrastructure. The former liberation movement, which Nelson Mandela led to power in 1994 at the end of apartheid, is still likely to remain the largest party, but polls suggest it will receive less than a third of the vote. The Guardian noted that this would be a sharp drop from the 45.6% the ANC secured in the 2021 municipal elections and the 40.2% it achieved in the 2024 national elections. The decline reflects growing anger over poor public services, with many South Africans blaming the ruling party for the ongoing failures in water and electricity supply.

Why it matters

The result could reshape local governance in South Africa and signal broader public dissatisfaction with the ANC’s handling of essential services.

Key details

Location
South Africa · Africa
Reported by
The Guardian
First reported
Key names
ANC, South Africans, African National Congress, Nelson Mandela
Section
Politics
Figure cited
The former liberation movement, which Nelson Mandela led to power in 1994 at the end of apartheid as South Africa’s first black president, is still likely to be the largest party. (The Guardian)

Sources

This is an independent summary. Read the full, original reporting from the publisher:

Read the full story at The Guardian

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