The Electoral Commission of South Africa is proposing a number of amendments to the Electoral Act ahead of the Local Government elections scheduled between November 2026 and January 2027.

Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Shiburi says that the primary subject of the proposed amendments relates to Section 15 of the Electoral Act, which currently allows objections to the voters’ roll at any stage.

He briefed the media on its preparations ahead of the polls at the commission’s headquarters in Midrand, Johannesburg.

Shiburi says, “One is to make it clear that objections are only competent against the provisionally compiled voters’ role. In other words, the voters’ role has not yet been certified for use in an election. This is necessary in order to facilitate certainty in preparations for an impending election. The second one is to clothe the Commission with remedies that it could consider in deciding an objection to a provisionally compiled voters’ roll.”

“Such remedies could include, but are not limited to, the removal of an address where such is in dispute, thereby ensuring that a voter will provide the address before they are allowed to vote at a voting station.”

Electoral Commission briefs the media on the 2026 Local Government Elections: