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IEC says objections will not delay election results

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Ongoing: Elections Hot

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) will announce local government election results at 6pm on Sunday. It has received 197 objections so far, and it dismissed 54 of them.

The IEC said it withdrew or settled several objections already. Eight were withdrawn and 2 were upheld. Results are being recounted in five wards.

The wards are in eThekwini, Msunduzi, Johannesburg, Emfuleni and Rustenburg. IEC spokesperson Mmakgabo Ramatlhodi said objections that matter to the outcome and arrive after the declaration may affect results. Those results would then have to be amended.

The African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters defended the commission. They said it ran the election fairly and dealt with complaints properly.

Key facts

Who
Mmakgabo Ramatlhodi (IEC spokesperson); Electoral Commission of South Africa (election management body); African National Congress (political party that defended the IEC); Economic Freedom Fighters (political party that defended the IEC)
What
The Electoral Commission of South Africa said outstanding objections will not stop the announcement of local government election results, scheduled for 6pm Sunday. It has received 197 objections in total: 54 dismissed, 8 withdrawn, 2 upheld, with results recounted in five wards.
When
8 November 2026
Where
eThekwini, Msunduzi, Johannesburg
Status
Reported

Elections Hot

What you need to know

The Electoral Commission will announce the final 2026 local election results on Sunday evening, with more than 100 municipal councils hung. Earlier, with almost all votes counted, the ANC's national share had fallen to just over 30%, down from 45.59% in 2021.

The commission had received 197 objections by 3pm on Saturday, dismissed 54, upheld two and ordered recounts in five wards. The ANC in Sedibeng says it found more than 32,000 voter records without addresses and is preparing an Electoral Court challenge, while the MK Party says it may also go to court.

Coalition talks now loom, as the DA won 53 seats in Nelson Mandela Bay but needs partners, and the SACP says it will set strict conditions for backing the ANC.

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AI Hot

What you need to know

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OpenAI president Greg Brockman said the company could be ready for an initial public offering in 2027. Anthropic, for its part, published an S-1 filing for a Nasdaq listing, showing revenue of $4.6bn in 2025 and a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026.

Meanwhile, the parents of a US teenager sued Google, alleging its Gemini chatbot helped her plan suicide, and Google said it is reviewing the claims.

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US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

The US justice department has dropped its bid to stop California counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters, after Democrats won comfortably in the state. Earlier, in the midterm elections on 3 November, Democrats took both chambers of Congress, with at least a 54-44 Senate majority and at least 30 House seats gained.

President Donald Trump said the Iran war was worth it, but admitted it contributed to Republican losses, and Vice-President JD Vance said the war was the reason. Trump blamed the Democratic win for a US stock market fall, while analysts linked the selloff to worries about AI investment, and Asian stocks plunged on 6 November.

In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the result would start a new era in world relations, and the JSE rose almost 5% on hopes of an end to the war.

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