Context for the 2026 Ontario Municipal Election
There are 444 municipal governments in Ontario, yet only 414 municipal governments hold elections. Why? Because some upper tier municipal governments are populated by a lower tier election process (e.g., counties and some regions and one district) as well as those municipalities that have the entire council acclaimed.
Those 414 municipal governments include:
Information is based on the 2021 Canada Census data.
Approximately 6,663 candidates compete for the 2,800 elected positions up for grabs. Approximately 435 of the 2,800 elected officials also sit on the upper tier, for a total of 3,235 seats. In 2026, 624 incumbents did not run compared to 692 incumbents in 2022 and 607 in 2018. In 2022, the total number of seats was 3,267. The total number of positions was 2,842 with 452 that also sit on the upper tier. The difference between the number of seats from 2022 to 2026 reflects the changes in Simcoe County, Niagara Region, and several other lower tier municipal council sizes.
ACCLAMATIONS
| 2026 | 2022 | 2018 |
| Total candidates acclaimed (includes HOC) | 400 (123 female) | 548 (163 female) | 477 (147 female) |
| Total heads of council (HOC) acclaimed | 104 (30 female) | 139 (37 female) | 120 (27 female) |
| Total number of councils fully acclaimed | 19 | 32 | 26 |
Acclaimed Candidates
Entire Councils Acclaimed:
CANDIDATES
| 2026 | 2022 | 2018 |
| Total number of candidates | 6,663 | 6,306 | 6,658 |
| Total candidates female | 2,103 | 1,931 | 1,808 |
| % Total female candidates | 32% | 31% | 27% |
Low Candidature:
This situation is where one or more candidates are acclaimed or the number of candidates running for positions does not exceed two candidates.
Low candidature occurs in 213 municipal governments (54%) of the 395 municipal governments where voting will occur. (Acclaimed council positions are not included in this figure).
In other words, in the remaining 183 municipal governments, there are more than 2 candidates per seat to be elected, if the seat is up for election.
Gender:
Incumbents:
VOTE METHOD
Municipal government voting methods in 2026 has continued to move to technology- based methods.
SIZE OF COUNCIL
Size of all 444 Councils varies across the province. The vast majority of councils are composed of five (5) members including the head of council. Larger councils on this chart reflects upper tier councils, such as counties and regions, which are composed of the mayors/reeves of the lower tiers.
For the 2026-30 election, there will be some changes to size:
Reduce size of Council
Increase Size of Council
2026-2030 - Size of Councils in Ontario - Chart
BALLOT QUESTIONS
There are 4 municipalities with ballot questions in 2026. There were 2 municipal governments with ballot questions in 2022, compared to 4 in 2018:
County of Prince Edward
City of Timmins
Town of Wasaga Beach
Township of Killaloe Hagarty & Richards
Disclaimer The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) has created this election statistics page as a public service. AMO cannot guarantee and assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency and completeness of the information posted.