{
  "id": 5226374,
  "title": "Record 142 072 candidates to contest 2026 local Elections, IEC says: Here’s the full breakdown",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/record-142-072-candidates-to-contest-2026-local-elections-iec-says",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-03T01:54:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Citizen",
    "slug": "the-citizen",
    "url": "https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/elections/record-candidates-to-contest-2026-local-elections-says-iec/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced that 142,072 candidates have been nominated for the upcoming local government elections in November 2026, marking a 43% increase from the previous year's 99,000 nominations. The IEC stated that this surge reflects a growing willingness by South Africans to participate in local governance.\n\nOf the 142,072 candidates, 40,241 are contesting Proportional Representation (PR) seats, while 100,856 are vying for ward seats. Independents, both parties and independents, submitted a total of 327,772 nominations through various channels. The IEC emphasized the need to verify compliance with legislative requirements, including acceptance-of-nomination forms, deposits, and voter-support signatures.\n\nGender representation remains skewed, with men accounting for nearly two-thirds of all nominations and women making up 38% of the nominees. The largest age group among candidates is 36-55, accounting for 58% of all nominees, with the 41-45 age group being the most represented at 16%.\n\nMunicipalities with the highest PR contestation include the City of Johannesburg (80 parties), the City of Tshwane (72), eThekwini (70), Ekurhuleni (69), and the City of Cape Town (55). The IEC confirmed that 2,274 candidates were registered on the Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) but not formally submitted before the deadline, affecting 480 PR and 1,794 ward candidates across 45 political parties.\n\nPolitical contestation shows that out of 732 registered political parties, 546 will contest the 2026 Local Government Elections, representing a national participation rate of 75%. The Commission highlighted that this demonstrates a vibrant and competitive political environment.\n\nBetween 4 and 25 September, the IEC will conduct several statutory processes, including requesting additional documents, cut-off for submitting requested documents, issuing notices for multiple nominations, and publishing final candidate lists on 16 September. Voters' roll objections resulted in over 300 objections, of which 79 were upheld, primarily due to inclusion of voters not belonging to certain wards and exclusion of voters in certain wards. The IEC urged candidates to uphold the Electoral Code of Conduct, emphasizing that compliance is not optional.",
  "summary": "File: Voters queue during the 2024 national and provincial government elections. Picture: The Citizen",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Daily Maverick",
        "title": "LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Extortion claims, cop probe fail to stop ANC Joburg candidate’s clearance to run",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/local-elections-2026-extortion-claims-cop-probe-fail-to-stop-anc",
        "published": "2026-09-02T20:28:29.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}