News · Elections 2026 · Municipal results
Nelson Mandela Bay: DA leads both ballots, council outcome remains open
The DA leads the Bay’s recorded ward and PR votes, while the ANC has more completed ward seats. What the IEC’s 20:11 SAST record establishes, and what it leaves open.
IEC source: 5 November 2026 at 20:11 SAST. 141 of 268 voting districts and 9 of 60 wards marked complete. Valid ward votes recorded: 150,997; valid municipal PR votes recorded: 150,869. Partial count; no completed council allocation or TPR projection.
Open the refreshed Nelson Mandela Bay results, wards and stations →
Nelson Mandela Bay’s partial count contains two different measures of political strength. The DA leads the recorded votes on both ballots, while the ANC has six of the nine ward seats shown as completed. Neither measure yet resolves the 120-seat council.
What the two ballots show
| Party | Ward votes | Municipal PR votes |
|---|---|---|
| DA | 62,044 | 62,098 |
| ANC | 40,588 | 41,063 |
| EFF | 7,444 | 7,811 |
| SACP | 6,377 | 5,918 |
| PA | 5,785 | 5,626 |
Five largest recorded municipal PR totals shown; the connected results view contains all contestant rows. Ward and PR totals are separate ballots. District tables combine ward and municipal PR ballots and are labelled accordingly.
The distinction is central to understanding the Bay result. Ward votes elect councillors in separate local contests. Municipal PR votes help determine the proportional composition of the whole council. A party can lead the citywide running vote total without winning the most ward seats recorded at that stage.
In the reviewed file, the DA has 62,044 ward votes and 62,098 municipal PR votes. The ANC has 40,588 and 41,063 respectively. The EFF follows both on the PR ballot, ahead of the SACP and PA. Those are recorded ballots, not an estimate of all votes still to enter the system.
What is still unresolved
The outstanding districts are not interchangeable units. A large station and a small station can contribute very different numbers of ballots. Their political composition may also differ. A little over half the districts being marked complete does not establish that the same share of votes has been processed.
For residents, the next consequential record is the completed seat allocation, followed by the formal declaration and the council’s election of its leadership. Until then, a claim that either the DA or ANC has secured the municipality runs ahead of this evidence.
TPR will test the eventual governing programme against the commitments register, including published councillor contacts, ward meetings and service responsibilities. The result will determine representation; it will not by itself show whether those commitments have been fulfilled.
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The linked results service aims to collect official records every 15 minutes. Unchanged or held source records can retain an older source time. Collection time and publication time are different; a failed or held update does not turn unavailable data into zero.
Nelson Mandela Bay IEC source, 5 November 20:11 SAST · IEC counting and audit process, 5 November 2026
Read the Bay commitments register · Open the Bay election desk
Sources, evidence and corrections
- Nelson Mandela Bay official IEC record, 5 November 20:11 SAST
- SAnews reporting the IEC results-management process, 5 November 2026
Evidence reviewed on 5 November 2026. This is a dated editorial report; the connected results views show later accepted records.