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South Africa's ANC on track for big drop in voter support in municipal vote

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The Straits Times. (2026, November 6). South Africa's ANC on track for big drop in voter support in municipal vote. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/south-africas-anc-on-track-for-big-drop-in-voter-support-in-municipal-vote

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The Straits Times · collected 2026-11-06 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

South Africa’s African National Congress is expected to lose significant voter support in recent municipal elections, according to preliminary results showing it at 32% of the vote compared to 25% for its rival, the Democratic Alliance. The ANC's decline marks a substantial drop from previous election results and suggests coalition talks will determine control over major cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Written by AI on 2026-11-06, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

South Africans voted in local government elections on November 2, 2026, with preliminary results showing that the African National Congress (ANC) is likely to lose significant ground to opposition parties like the Democratic Alliance (DA). Early counts indicate the ANC leading but with a sharply reduced vote share of about 32% in cities such as Johannesburg. This decline reflects widespread voter dissatisfaction over issues including water outages, power cuts, and poor service delivery. The results suggest that coalition talks will determine control of major cities, potentially extending the ANC's electoral decline after it formed a national coalition government following its loss of parliamentary majority in 2024.

Written for “South Africa Local Elections” on 2026-11-06, grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 South Africa Local Elections
Politics · 12 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Al Jazeera
Hedges 3 of 14 claims Outlet record 60/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 11 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe expectations and results leading up to an election, but they refer to different points in time: Article A reports on the day of the vote counting results, while Article B predicts the outcome before voting occurs.”
Semafor
Hedges 3 of 34 claims Outlet record 68/100
“Article A discusses predictions before the election on November 2nd, while Article B reports on results after more than two-thirds of votes were counted on November 6th.”
ABC News (US)
⚖️ Leans right Hedges 1 of 19 claims Outlet record 67/100
“Article A describes the start of voting in local elections, while Article B reports results indicating a decline in voter support several days later.”
The Hindu
Hedges 2 of 14 claims Outlet record 78/100
“Article A describes the voting day and context leading up to the election on November 4th, while Article B reports results a few days later on November 6th.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 34 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The first article describes the run-up and expectations before local elections, while the second reports on the results and their implications after the election has taken place.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different stages of the same election process: one reports on the start of vote counting, while the other provides results and implications from more than two-thirds of votes counted.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 24 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles refer to different stages of the same election process; Article A discusses voter discontent before voting day, while Article B reports on results and implications after most votes are counted.”
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 71 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A describes the context and campaigning leading up to the local elections, while Article B reports on the election results showing a decline in support for ANC.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 3 of 25 claims Outlet record 60/100
“Article A describes the voting day and process in the local elections on November 4th, while Article B reports on election results and their implications several days later.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
8
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
1 of 8 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
66/100
The Straits Times's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
12
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-06 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Straits Times · 4596 article(s) · 5 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 5 correction(s)

Who wrote this

The Straits Times
3041 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by The Straits Times
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 3041 articles by The Straits Times →

Topics

ANC African National Congress JOHANNESBURG South Africa's the Democratic Alliance

Subjects

ANC ORG · 6× JOHANNESBURG GPE · 4× South Africa's GPE · 3× African National Congress ORG · 1× Cape Town GPE · 1× Pretoria GPE · 1× South Africa GPE · 1× Tshwane GPE · 1× eThekwini GPE · 1× the Democratic Alliance ORG · 1×

Narrative

The ANC has been South Africa's largest party since it led the country out of apartheid in 1994, but its share of the vote has fallen sharply as voters have punished it for high crime and unemployment, corruption scandals and failing basic services like water and electricity.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-06
🔮 The results so far suggest coalition talks will decide control of major cities such as Johannesburg, extending the decline of the previously dominant party, which had to form a coalition to govern nationally after the 2024 election.
2026-11-06 · The Straits Times
South Africa's ANC on track for big drop in voter support in municipal vote · assertive framing

Claims (8 extracted, 1 hedged)

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 6 - South Africa's African National Congress is on track for a big drop in voter support in municipal elections, results from more than two-thirds of the votes counted showed on Friday. asserted
results → count → Friday
The results so far suggest coalition talks will decide control of major cities such as Johannesburg, extending the decline of the previously dominant party, which had to form a coalition to govern nationally after the 2024 election. asserted
which → suggest → election
The ANC was on 32% of the vote, compared to 25% for its nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance, results from 71% of votes counted showed. asserted
results → compare → votes
If those figures hold the ANC would be down about 14 percentage points from its last municipal election result in 2021, which was already its worst in history. asserted
which → hold → history
The ANC has been South Africa's largest party since it led the country out of apartheid in 1994, but its share of the vote has fallen sharply as voters have punished it for high crime and unemployment, corruption scandals and failing basic services like water and electricity. asserted
voters → lead → water
The DA is on course to win an outright majority in Cape Town, but projections are for hung councils in other large metropolitan areas, such as Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city, and Tshwane, home to the administrative capital Pretoria. asserted
projections → win → capital
The outcome remains unclear in the early stages of the vote count in eThekwini, the municipality centred on Durban, where former President Jacob Zuma is hoping his party — a splinter from the ANC — can seize a majority. uncertain
party → remain → majority
Analysts have said the best option for stability in cities such as Johannesburg would be for the ANC to partner with the DA, mirroring the arrangement they have in national government. asserted
they → say → government
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