Buffalo City hung: ANC on 38 of 100 seats after full count

Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality is a hung council after every voting district was counted in the 4 November 2026 local elections.

Rateweb's live IEC feed (updated 16:16 Africa/Johannesburg on Friday 6 November) puts the African National Congress (ANC) on 42.0% of the vote and 38 of 100 seats. A party needs 51 seats to govern the East London metro alone. That leaves the ANC 13 seats short.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is second on 18.3%, ahead of the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 16.9%. The Outlier's PR tally with 100% of districts in shows a similar order: ANC 41.8%, UDM 20.3%, DA 16.5%.

PE Express reported earlier on Friday that the IEC dashboard already classifies Buffalo City as hung, with coalition talks set to decide who runs the metro.

What do the final vote shares look like?

Rateweb's combined ballot totals for Buffalo City, drawn from IEC files with 380 of 380 voting districts counted:

Sources: Rateweb Buffalo City, Rateweb national results. Seat rows continue to update as the IEC finishes proportional-representation allocations; Rateweb already marks the metro Hung council.

On the PR ballot alone, The Outlier lists ANC 103,632 votes (41.8%), UDM 50,373 (20.3%), DA 40,896 (16.5%), EFF 16,024 (6.5%) and SACP 10,268 (4.1%).

Why is Buffalo City hung?

A council is hung when no party wins more than half the seats. Buffalo City has 100 seats, so the majority line is 51.

With the ANC on about 42% of the vote and 38 seats on Rateweb's board, no other party is close to 51 either. EWN reported during the count that the ANC was set to remain the biggest party without a clear majority, and that the UDM and SACP had not ruled out talking to parties that share their values.

In 2021 the ANC won Buffalo City outright with 59.4% of the vote (IOL). The drop to the low-40s, plus the UDM's rise from about 1% in 2021 to around 18 to 20% now, is what flips the metro into coalition territory.

What happens next for rates and services?

Hung does not mean the council stops working. It means parties must find enough votes in the chamber to elect a speaker and an executive mayor, then pass budgets and by-laws.

Under the Municipal Structures Act, the first council meeting to elect a speaker and mayor must be held within 14 calendar days after the IEC declares the council elected. The IEC aims to declare final national results by about 11 November 2026 (IEC counting factsheet; Reported explainer on the 14-day window).

Until a new executive is elected, day-to-day municipal administration continues under existing officials. Residents should keep using official Buffalo City channels for water, electricity, rates and refuse queries rather than relying on campaign statements.

How does this sit next to Nelson Mandela Bay?

Buffalo City is the first of the Eastern Cape's two metros to finish its voting-district count on Rateweb's board. Nelson Mandela Bay was still counting on Friday afternoon, with the DA leading on the vote but also short of a 61-seat majority in its 120-seat council (PE Express; The Herald).

Across the province, several smaller councils are already decided as hung on The Outlier's council board, including Makana, Ndlambe, Sundays River Valley, Blue Crane Route, Enoch Mgijima and Walter Sisulu.

Where can you check the official numbers?

• IEC results dashboard
• Rateweb Buffalo City page
• The Outlier Buffalo City page

Figures above are provisional until the IEC issues its final declaration. Seat totals can still move slightly as proportional seats are locked in, but the vote shares already make an ANC-only majority arithmetically out of reach.