The ANC has remained South Africa’s largest party, but its vote share fell from 46.1% in 2021 to 31.0% in 2026, the lowest share it has received in any election since 1994. Meanwhile, the broader Charter movement also recorded its lowest level of support, as the economy ultimately broke the dominance that the movement had exerted over South African politics for more than 30 years.

The African National Congress (ANC) won 31.0% of the proportional representation (PR) vote in the 2026 local government elections, according to results from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 24.7% and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) with 9.7%.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) won 6.3%, ActionSA 6.0%, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 4.7%, and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) 3.0%. The South African Communist Party (SACP), which stood against the ANC in a nationwide local government election for the first time, won 2.3%.

The chart below compares the results of all local government elections from 2006 to 2026.

The polling results produced by this newspaper in conjunction with the Social Research Foundation (SRF) were very close to the election result. The chart below compares the October poll with the final 2026 local government election result.

For all the analysis that will follow this week about what went wrong, the single most important issue that brought down the ANC was the decline in South Africa's rate of economic growth and the consequences this has had for living standards across the country.

The chart below shows the relationship between ANC local government election support and the rate of economic growth in South Africa since 2006 and The Common Sense will be publishing a great deal more analysis on this relationship over the coming week.

This election also marked the first time that the ANC and its Charter party offshoots had collectively won less than 50% of the vote.

Charter parties are political parties rooted in the ANC’s liberation tradition and the principles of the Freedom Charter, including the ANC and its offshoots, such as the EFF, MKP, the SACP, the United Democratic Movement, the Azanian People’s Organisation, and the Pan Africanist Congress.

The Freedom Charter was the most important statement of opposition to apartheid produced by what became South Africa’s broad front of ANC-allied liberation movements. It was officially adopted at Kliptown in Soweto in June of 1955.

The chart below shows the share of the vote won by Charter parties in all elections since 1994.