MIDRAND - Voting stations for the 2026 local government elections closed at 9 pm on Wednesday.
But the work of the Electoral Commission (IEC) continues.
Once every eligible voter has cast their vote, the focus moves to counting, reconciling and verifying votes before the country can know who will take seats in the 257 municipal councils.
Briefing the media on Wednesday night, IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo outlined the nitty-gritty.
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Once polls are closed, ballot papers will then be counted at the voting stations in the presence of party agents, independent agents and accredited observers.
“Sealed ballot boxes will be opened, and ballot papers are checked for the official security stamp of the Commission. Ballots are then sorted out and counted separately for each ballot type, namely whether it's a PR ballot, vote ballot and, where applicable the voting district PR ballot.”
Once the counting has been completed, officials will then move to reconcile results of each contest against the ballot papers received, issued, and those that remain unused at each station.
“That process must reconcile every ballot that was received by the station. Result slips are completed in duplicate, signed by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by party agents before being displayed at the station as soon as counting is complete."
Before the IEC can declare the election results, they are then subsequently scanned and captured at the local office of the Commission and subjected to verification and independent external auditing.
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The results operation centres, provide political parties, independent candidates, observers and the media with an opportunity to monitor the capturing, verification and processing of results.
“This reinforces transparency and the integrity of the process. Once counting and capturing and verification have been completed and all outstanding exceptions resolved, the Commission will declare the results and announce the allocation of seats in the municipal councils within the prescribed seven-day period,” Mamabolo said.