Three ballots, three choices: what voters will actually see at the local polls

Voters will be handed three separate ballots in the 2026 local government elections, and the Government of South Africa has moved early to explain what each one is for.

In a post on its official X account on Wednesday, the government set out the three choices in plain terms. The district ballot carries party representatives onto the district council. The PR ballot chooses a party to be represented on the council. The ward ballot chooses the voter’s ward councillor.

“Three ballots, three choices. Make each one count,” the post reads.

The message is a reminder rather than an announcement of anything new in the law. It points to a ballot structure that many voters meet only once every five years, and it asks them to know the difference before they reach the voting station.

The distinction matters most between the ward and PR ballots. The ward ballot names a person who will represent that ward. The PR ballot is cast for a party, and the party’s share of that vote determines how many of its candidates are drawn onto the council from its list.

The government’s post did not set out the date of the elections, the number of councils being contested or any change to the voting process. It confined itself to the three ballots and what each one decides.

For voters, the practical advice is to read each ballot paper as it is handed over, because the three are separate choices and not a single vote counted three ways.