{ "data": { "id": "south-africa-general-2029", "country": "ZA", "country_name": "South Africa", "level": "national", "subdivision": null, "subdivision_name": null, "date": "2029-09-11", "date_status": "tentative", "kind": "general", "conditional": null, "timezone": "Africa/Johannesburg", "status": "scheduled", "last_verified_at": "2026-10-02T12:00:00Z", "stale": false, "stale_reason": null, "provenance": { "from": "researcher agent 2026-10-02: Constitution ss.46, 49-51, 86-87 (justice.gov.za, gov.za); Electoral Act 73 of 1998 ss.36, 55, 57 (gov.za PDF); Parliament of South Africa press release 'Post-elections: the road to establishing the National Assembly of the Seventh Democratic Parliament'; IEC results portal results.elections.org.za; IEC Objections page; SAnews 29 May, 2 Jun, 10 Jun, 14 Jun 2024; Presidency statement 20 Feb 2024; Corruption Watch/PMG on the 2024 term expiry", "licence": "CC BY 4.0 (Election Index)" }, "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/south-africa-general-2029", "races": [ { "id": "national-assembly", "key": "south-africa-general-2029/national-assembly", "name": "National Assembly", "body": "legislature-lower", "seats": 400, "seats_provisional": false, "polls_close_utc": "2029-09-11T19:00:00Z", "authority": { "id": "za-iec", "name": "Electoral Commission of South Africa", "name_local": null, "role": "electoral-commission", "homepage": "https://www.elections.org.za/", "results_index": "https://results.elections.org.za/", "open_data": null }, "status": "scheduled", "expected_stage_now": null, "observed": false, "final_observed": null, "final_expected": { "from": "2029-09-13T19:00:00Z", "by": "2029-09-20T21:59:59Z", "confidence": "announced", "basis": "Electoral Act 73 of 1998 s.57(2): the Commission must determine and declare the result 'within seven days after the voting day, but not (a) sooner than 21:00 of the second day after the voting day; or (b) before all objections made under section 55 have been dealt with' - for an 11 Sep 2029 poll, between 21:00 SAST Thu 13 Sep (19:00 UTC) and Tue 18 Sep 2029. The window closes at the end of Thu 20 Sep SAST, two days past the statutory day, erring late; s.57(4)-(5) let the Electoral Court extend the period, and Constitution s.49(3) requires a new election if the result is not declared in time. Precedent: 2024 poll Wed 29 May, the IEC declared the results at the national Results Operations Centre on the evening of Sun 2 Jun 2024, day 4 (SAnews, 2 Jun 2024; Parliament of South Africa press release confirms the seven-day rule). Section 55 objections go to the Commission, with appeal to the Electoral Court (s.55(5)); the result is not suspended pending appeal (s.55(7)), so no court-validation stage." }, "last_final": null, "previous": null, "stages": [ { "stage": "election-night", "from": "2029-09-11T19:00:00Z", "by": "2029-09-13T19:00:00Z", "replacedAt": "2029-09-13T19:00:00Z", "confidence": "estimate", "citation": "Polls close at 21:00 SAST (UTC+2, no DST) = 19:00 UTC, assuming the Commission again prescribes 07:00-21:00 under Electoral Act s.36(1) (2024: stations 'opened at 7am' and voters in the queue before 9pm could still vote, SAnews 29 May 2024; s.36(7)(a) lets the Commission extend hours at a station to midnight). Votes are counted at voting stations and the IEC results dashboard fills progressively from polls close. These are partial, uncertified counts. The window closes at the earliest lawful declaration (21:00 SAST Thu 13 Sep, Electoral Act s.57(2)(a)), by which time partial counts will have been on the dashboard for two days; the dashboard keeps filling until the declaration (2024: declared day 4), and that is when the final result replaces it. An estimate: no capture-completion time was verified for 2024.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null }, { "stage": "final-result", "from": "2029-09-13T19:00:00Z", "by": "2029-09-20T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "announced", "citation": "Electoral Act 73 of 1998 s.57(2): the Commission must determine and declare the result 'within seven days after the voting day, but not (a) sooner than 21:00 of the second day after the voting day; or (b) before all objections made under section 55 have been dealt with' - for an 11 Sep 2029 poll, between 21:00 SAST Thu 13 Sep (19:00 UTC) and Tue 18 Sep 2029. The window closes at the end of Thu 20 Sep SAST, two days past the statutory day, erring late; s.57(4)-(5) let the Electoral Court extend the period, and Constitution s.49(3) requires a new election if the result is not declared in time. Precedent: 2024 poll Wed 29 May, the IEC declared the results at the national Results Operations Centre on the evening of Sun 2 Jun 2024, day 4 (SAnews, 2 Jun 2024; Parliament of South Africa press release confirms the seven-day rule). Section 55 objections go to the Commission, with appeal to the Electoral Court (s.55(5)); the result is not suspended pending appeal (s.55(7)), so no court-validation stage.", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null }, { "stage": "government", "from": "2029-09-13T19:00:00Z", "by": "2029-10-02T21:59:59Z", "replacedAt": null, "confidence": "announced", "citation": "Constitution s.86(1): 'At its first sitting after its election ... the National Assembly must elect a woman or a man from among its members to be the President'; s.51(1): the first sitting is set by the Chief Justice 'but not more than 14 days after the election result has been declared'. So no President before the declaration (earliest 13 Sep 2029 21:00 SAST) and, absent an Electoral Court extension, by 14 days after the latest lawful declaration (18 Sep) = Tue 2 Oct 2029. The President-elect assumes office within five days (s.87). Precedent: 2024 first sitting Fri 14 Jun 2024 at the CTICC, Cape Town, where the President was elected (SAnews, 10 and 14 Jun 2024); 2019 first sitting 22 May 2019 after an 8 May poll (Corruption Watch citing PMG).", "source": null, "observedAt": null, "observedSource": null } ], "sources": [ { "url": "https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/", "role": "results-live", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "no election or results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "IEC National and Provincial Elections (NPE) results dashboard: an index, not a page for this election. Checked 2 Oct 2026: titled 'NPE Results Dashboard 2024', with a year selector for 2004-2024 and National Assembly / Provincial Legislature views. The IEC results portal (results.elections.org.za/home/) says its dashboards show live results on election night, 'updated every 5-10 minutes after all voting stations close'. No 2029 page exists yet.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://results.elections.org.za/home/Downloads/NPE-Results", "role": "results-final", "kind": "results_index", "kindReason": "results section without an election code", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "IEC downloadable National and Provincial results reports (PDF/Excel), election-year selector listing 2024 and 2019 national elections (checked 2 Oct 2026). An index, not a page for this election.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/chp04.html", "role": "timetable", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "election page without a results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "Constitution, Chapter 4: s.49 (five-year term; election within 90 days of expiry or dissolution), s.50 (early dissolution), s.51(1) (first sitting within 14 days of the declared result). Read 2 Oct 2026. DATE WORKING (tentative, the latest lawful date): s.49(1) 'The National Assembly is elected for a term of five years' does not say when the term starts. Parliament's own reading in 2024 counts it from the first sitting: the Sixth Parliament first sat on 22 May 2019 and 'the term of this Assembly expired on 21 May' 2024 (Parliament of South Africa press release, 'Post-elections: The Road to Establishing the National Assembly of the Seventh Democratic Parliament'; Corruption Watch citing PMG). The Seventh NA first sat on 14 Jun 2024 (SAnews), so its term expires 13 Jun 2029; s.49(2) requires the election 'within 90 days of the date ... its term expired' -> latest Tue 11 Sep 2029 (13 Jun + 90 days). If the term were instead counted from polling day (29 May 2024), the latest date would be 26 Aug 2029. The President sets the date by proclamation after consulting the IEC (Electoral Act s.17), and may do so before expiry; recent elections were held in May (2019: 8 May; 2024: 29 May, proclaimed by the President on 20 Feb 2024 under s.49(2), Presidency statement on gov.za), so an earlier date is likely. Early election risk: s.50 dissolution by a majority resolution of the NA once three years have passed since it was elected, or if it fails to fill a vacancy in the presidency within 30 days. Seats: 400 (SAnews 2 Jun 2024, '400-member National Assembly'; s.46 allows 350-400). The nine provincial legislatures are elected the same day and are not profiled here; the municipal elections of 2026-27 are separate local elections.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a73-98.pdf", "role": "timetable", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "election page without a results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "note": "Electoral Act 73 of 1998 as published: s.36 (Commission prescribes voting hours), s.55 (objections by 21:00 on the second day after voting), s.57 (declaration of the result within seven days). Text read in this original publication; later amendments not checked line by line.", "check": null }, { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_South_African_general_election", "role": "see-also", "kind": "other", "kindReason": "no election or results marker", "resolvable": false, "origin": "race", "check": null }, { "url": "https://results.elections.org.za/", "role": "results-index", "kind": "results_index", "kindReason": "results host, but its root lists many elections", "resolvable": false, "origin": "authority", "check": null }, { "url": "https://www.elections.org.za/", "role": "authority-home", "kind": "emb_home", "kindReason": "site root: cannot answer a results question", "resolvable": false, "origin": "authority", "check": null } ], "page_activity": [], "government": { "earliestUtc": "2029-09-13T19:00:00Z", "precedentDays": [ 14, 16 ], "note": "Days from polling day to the National Assembly's first sitting, at which the President is elected (s.86): 2019 8 May to 22 May (14), 2024 29 May to 14 Jun (16). The President then appoints the Cabinet; there is no statutory deadline for that. The 2019 sitting date is from Corruption Watch/PMG, not an official page." }, "results": [], "live_count": null, "url": "https://electionindex.org/election/south-africa-general-2029#national-assembly" } ] }, "meta": { "dataset_version": "2026-10-02.be7d6f40", "built_at": "2026-10-02T15:42:24Z", "generated_at": "2026-10-02T18:15:12.023Z", "licence": "CC BY 4.0: credit \"Global Election Index (electionindex.org)\" and link to https://electionindex.org", "docs": "https://electionindex.org/docs" } }