Freedom Front Plus to sit at top of ballot on election day – Here’s why

The IEC held a random draw to avoid any perceived advantage given to parties starting with the letter 'A'. Corner Mulder and Pieter Groenewald’s Freedom Front Plus (FF+) will be the name displayed at the top of the list of parties on the 2026 local government election ballot. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) held a random draw for the top ballot position during its electoral pledge signing ceremony in Midrand on Wednesday. The IEC said the draw was necessary to eliminate any perceived advantage gained by the parties whose names began with the first letter of the alphabet. LIVE interactive map, latest news, multimedia and more! View Map Ballot reshuffle IEC’s deputy chief electoral officer Masego Shiburi stated that whichever party was drawn, the alphabetical order would then continue as normal thereafter. With its Afrikaans name, Vryheidsfront Plus, coming before the English translation on its IEC registration, the FF+ shift from near the bottom of the ballot to the top. In an example of Johannesburg’s ballot shown to the hall in Midrand, the FF+ will be followed by Vuka SA and ActionSA. In other areas, such as Bela-Bela, and due to the lack of parties starting with a Z, the FF+ will be followed by the AC/DP and other parties starting with an A. The IEC officials called for a random volunteer to do the draw, with eNCA’s Naledi Moleo offering her services to pull a ball out of the bowl. “Are you expectant? Must I tell you what Naledi gave me? Naledi has given me the Vryheidsfront Plus,” said IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya, before holding the ball aloft. “So, the Vryheidsfront Plus will be the first party on the ballot and the order will follow as Mr Shiburi has instructed us,” he concluded. Double-column ballot Due to the high volume of parties on the ballot for the 4 November election, any ward ballot or proportional representation (PR) ballot with more than 48 candidates will have a double-column ballot. This will be applicable to five of the largest and most contested municipalities. Johannesburg’s PR ballot will have 75 parties, Tshwane will have 70, and eThekwini, Ekurhuleni and Cape Town will have 69, 67 and 55, respectively. Shiburi explained that on the PR ballots, parties could be identified, from left to right, via their party name, party abbreviation and then their logo. On ward ballots, the candidate’s name as it appears on their ID will be on the left, followed by party and logo. In both cases, the logo will appear closest to the box where the voters will place their X.