IEC Chairperson Commissioner Mosotho Moepya says candidate participation has risen sharply ahead of the November local government elections, with more than 142,000 nominations received across the country.
South Africa’s 2026 local government elections are shaping up for a fiercely contested race, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) recording a 43% increase in candidate nominations compared with the 2021 municipal polls.
Speaking at a media briefing at Election House on Wednesday, Electoral Commission chairperson Mosotho Moepya announced that 142,072 candidates had been nominated to contest 10,526 councillor seats in the November 4 elections.
The figure is a significant increase from the 99,000 nominations filed for the 2021 local government elections.
“To put the scale of participation into perspective, 99,000 nominations to contest the 2021 local government elections were filed.
