Local Government Elections 2026

South Africa's ballot is the most crowded it has ever been

An analysis of 136,698 certified candidates across 524 parties — the full picture of who is running for local office in 2026 and where political power is concentrating.

524

political parties contesting the election

136,698

certified candidates parsed from 2,137 pages

51.9%

of candidates estimated female — near parity

189×

more candidates in Johannesburg than in Xhariep

DA edges out the ANC by just 97 candidates in total national deployment

Number of certified candidates fielded by the seven largest parties, LGE 2026

Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal together account for 40% of all national candidates

Certified candidates by province; number of candidates, LGE 2026

ANC fields nearly 10 percentage points more female candidates than the DA

Estimated share of female vs male candidates for selected parties and overall; LGE 2026 (name-based heuristic, ~85% accuracy)

Female candidates (%)

Male candidates (%)

69% of parties contesting 2026 are running with fewer than 100 candidates each

Number of parties in each candidate-count band; 524 registered parties total, LGE 2026

South Africa's five biggest metros concentrate more candidates than all rural municipalities combined

Share of total certified candidates by municipality type; LGE 2026 (257 municipalities total)