02/11/2026
DA urges South Africans to cast their vote despite ballot delays
by Ashor Sarupen - DA Federal Council Chairperson
Date: 02 November 2026
Release: immediate
Despite delays in delivering ballot papers this morning at multiple voting stations across the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on all supporters registered for Special Votes to stay the course and cast their special ballot.
The DA’s lawyers have written to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) over delays in delivering ballots to voting stations in the Western Cape, Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal.
Our demand includes an assurance from the IEC on the timelines for delivering outstanding ballot papers and the measures being taken to protect the voting rights of affected voters.
The DA has also called for the National IEC to convene an urgent meeting of the Party Liaison Committee to address the serious failures that caused ballot paper delays across large parts of the country this morning.
This election is too important to miss, and we call on DA supporters to cast your votes to stop the chaos and start service delivery. The delays must not deter us from getting our broken cities and towns working for everyone. This is our moment to stop the chaos and choose service delivery, and no ballot delay should stop you from getting our broken cities and towns working.
If you couldn't cast your special vote this morning, you can do so tomorrow. The DA calls on all registered Special Voters to cast their votes by tomorrow.
All registered Special Voters should also know that those who registered for Special Votes, but did not cast them, can still vote on Election Day.
