Vryheid council is hung: IFP leads AbaQulusi with 20 of 47 seats

AbaQulusi, the northern KwaZulu-Natal municipality that includes Vryheid, has a hung council. With all 119 voting districts counted, the Inkatha Freedom Party has 20 of the 47 seats, four short of the 24 needed to govern alone (The People's Register, using IEC data dated 15:46 SAST on 8 November 2026; also on ESP).

The IFP won 18 of the 24 wards, but its strong ward showing left it with only 2 PR seats. The MK Party, new to this council, has 13 seats and the ANC 8 (ESP).

Who won how many seats?

Source: The People's Register, IEC allocation 8 November 2026, 15:46 SAST; also ESP and Counted.

Turnout was 52.1% of about 113,000 registered voters, with 58,058 valid ward votes (ESP).

How did the ward vote split?

Source: ESP. The IFP's ward vote share is down from 44.1% in 2021. On the municipal PR ballot the IFP took 41.9%, the MK Party 28.8% and the ANC 15.3% (The People's Register).

Some wards were very close. In Ward 10 the ANC leads the IFP by 4 votes, and in Ward 8 the IFP leads the MK Party by 42 votes (Counted).

How does this compare with 2021?

In 2021 the council had 45 seats: IFP 21, ANC 14, NFP 4, DA 2 and others 4. This year the council has grown to 47 seats. The IFP has 20, one fewer, while the ANC has dropped from 14 to 8. The NFP fell from 4 seats to 1 (Counted).

On combined ward and PR votes, the IFP's share is 42.1%, down from 45.3% in 2021, and the ANC's share is 15.6%, down from 31.1% (Counted).

What would it take to reach 24 seats?

This is seat arithmetic, not a prediction. No coalition had been announced in the sources used here.

The IFP and DA together fall one seat short, so any one of the Freedom Front Plus, NFP or EFF would take them to exactly 24. A council without the IFP would need the MK Party, the ANC and the DA all voting together.

When will AbaQulusi get a mayor?

The results are still provisional. The IEC plans to announce the final 2026 local election results at 18:00 on Sunday, 8 November (eNCA), and seat allocations can still change if objections are upheld (IOL).

Once the council is declared, the municipal manager must call the first council meeting within 14 days, where councillors elect a speaker and mayor (Municipal Structures Act; Reported: what happens in a hung council).

How to check your ward result

Use the IEC's results dashboard and search for AbaQulusi (KZN263). Results for each ward are also on ESP and The People's Register. Only the IEC's declaration is final.