More than 824,000 voters in the Western Cape had been issued ballots by 12:30 on 4 November 2026, with over 524,000 of these from the Cape Town metro, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) reported. This strong turnout was confirmed by Michael Hendrickse, the IEC’s Western Cape provincial electoral officer, speaking from the provincial results centre in Century City.
“As at around 12:30 today, 824 242 voters were issued with ballots across our province at our voting stations, and of these, 524 162 were in the Cape Town metro,” Hendrickse said.
All 1,623 voting stations in the province were open despite some experiencing delays caused by glitches with voter management devices. Hendrickse reassured voters that processing continued actively across the province.
“All our 1,623 voting stations were opened this morning, and as of now we are continuing to actively process all our voters at our various voting stations,” he added.
This turnout follows the special voting period held on 2 and 3 November, during which over 291,000 special voting applications were approved in the Western Cape. Preliminary IEC data shows that tens of thousands of these special voters had already cast their ballots before election day.
The high voter participation in the metro is notable, accounting for more than half of the province’s ballots issued by lunchtime. This reflects strong urban engagement in the local government elections on 4 November.
The robust turnout in the Western Cape fits into the larger national context, where millions of South Africans had already voted by midday. Polling stations nationally remain open until 9pm, with voters still in queues allowed to cast their ballots after closing time.
IEC officials continue to monitor the elections closely as results start coming in, with final counts expected in the days following the vote.
Cape Flats News journalist will follow updates closely from the IEC and the provincial results centre to provide ongoing coverage of election developments.