South Africa's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has formally objected to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over results in eThekwini, demanding that Sunday's declaration of the 2026 local election results be delayed.

The objection, dated Friday 6 November and submitted by acting secretary-general Lindiwe Makubu, alleges system failures during live results capturing at the IEC's eThekwini Results Operations Centre, along with discrepancies between electronically captured results and physical results slips. The party also raised concerns about the counting, verification and reconciliation of ballots in the municipality.

In its submission, the MK Party called for an immediate audit of the disputed results, the suspension of further processing of affected results pending verification, access for independent forensic analysts, and the resolution of all outstanding discrepancies before any final declaration. It cited Section 65 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act in asking the IEC to hold back the announcement and gazetting of results.

The move comes even though the party is leading the race in eThekwini, with 40 percent of the ward vote from about 85 percent of voting districts captured by Saturday morning, ahead of the Democratic Alliance on 24.1 percent and the African National Congress on 17.1 percent.

Nationally, the MK Party stood third with 9.6 percent of the ward vote, or 1,367,659 votes, with 98.1 percent of voting districts captured. In KwaZulu-Natal it leads the provincial vote on 34.54 percent.

Senior MK figure Dali Mpofu said the party would only accept results it was satisfied were free and fair, and that complaints from members and supporters on the ground would be examined before any decision on legal action. The IEC is expected to announce final results on Sunday.

[Source: insidepolitic.co.za](https://insidepolitic.co.za/mk-party-leads-comfortably-in-ethekwini-but-demands-iec-delay-election-results-over-system-failure/) | [Source: africannewsagency.com](https://africannewsagency.com/ifp-leads-in-more-kzn-municipalities-despite-mk-partys-provincial-vote-lead/)