By Thapelo Molefe
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is out-registering the African National Congress (ANC) in at least 66 municipalities across South Africa as voter registration for the 2026 local government elections gains momentum.
In a statement issued on Saturday following the Electoral Commission’s (IEC) voter registration update, DA Campaign Manager Ashor Sarupen and Deputy Campaign Manager Werner Horn said the party was seeing strong growth in voter registrations across the country.
“The DA can also announce today that we are now out-registering the ANC in at least 66 Municipalities so far, across South Africa,” the party said.
“This means that in these Municipalities more DA supporters are being added to the Voters Roll than ANC supporters, making the swing vote in the November Election far stronger.”
The DA said it had already assisted more than 215,000 supporters to register online before the start of the voter registration weekend and described the current campaign as the most successful voter registration drive in the party’s history.
According to the party, 99,705 supporters were assisted to become correctly registered in the past 30 days alone.
Earlier, the IEC reported that more than 330,000 voter registration transactions had been processed by midday on Saturday, including over 300,000 registrations at voting stations and a further 30,000 through its online registration platform.
The IEC also said young people made up the majority of new applicants.
“The DA saw a significant surge in online registration assistance requests in the past three weeks. The DA has assisted 99,705 supporters to become correctly registered in just the past 30 days. This is the biggest surge in voter registrations in the DA’s history,” the DA said.
The party said it was pleased with turnout during the first day of the voter registration weekend, particularly at voting stations in areas where it enjoys strong support.
“The DA is pleased with turnout so far, and we are seeing higher than expected turnout at many DA stronghold Voting Stations.”
The DA also welcomed the performance of the Electoral Commission, saying voters could be confident that voting stations were open and operational.
“The DA is satisfied with IEC performance so far today, and voters can be confident that their IEC Voting Station is open, and should go out now to check their Registration.”
The party said it had representatives at thousands of voting stations across the country to assist supporters with registration and verification of their details.
The DA attributed the increase in registrations to its use of technology, which it said had made it easier for supporters to obtain assistance and register correctly.
The party urged South Africans to ensure they are properly registered before the registration period closes.
“If you do not become correctly registered now, you cannot vote in November,” the DA said.
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