One Hundred Municipalities Won’t Have a Majority

Marius Roodt and Gabriel Makin discuss the upcoming local government elections where a record number of councils will see no party win a majority.

14 min

South Africa's November local elections are set to leave between 100 to 120 councils hung, where no party wins a majority. That’s around half of South Africa’s municipalities. Marius Roodt walks Gabriel Makin through those numbers. Marius explains to Gabriel why hung councils exploded from 12–16% of all municipalities in previous elections to 31% in 2021, how The Common Sense’s polling points to an unprecedented November, and the three ways the coalition scramble can play out. Marius also explains how in South Africa councils only have 14 days after an election to elect a mayor and a speaker, which leaves little time for parties to agree on coalitions.

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