Ramaphosa  expected to approve new election laws

At its virtual plenary on Thursday, the National Assembly (NA) enacted the Electoral Reform Bill and accepted the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, as well as revisions submitted by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

On October 20, 2022, the National Assembly adopted the Electoral Reform Bill and forwarded it to the NCOP for further review and concurrence.

The NCOP also accepted it with further recommended revisions and submitted it to the NA for further processing on November 29, 2022.

The NCOP suggested revisions to the Bill, including a change to clause 3 by adding a new paragraph to Section 27 of the Electoral Act of 1998 to rectify the imbalance between party and independent candidates.

Currently, the Bill simply requires independent candidates to collect signatures totaling 20% of the quota for a seat in the preceding similar election.

According to Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo, the proposed amendment to this section now intends to require that parties that are registered but not represented in the National Assembly or provincial legislatures produce the same number of signatures in support of their party when intending to contest an election.

“Once the independent candidates and registered parties are represented in the NA or provincial legislatures, they would be exempt from this requirement. The NCOP further proposed amendments to clause 6 to bring the wording and requirements imposed on independent candidates to be aligned with the requirements now being imposed on parties by the amendment to clause 3,” Mothapo explained.

Additional revisions to clause 21 of the Bill, which deals with Schedule 1A, include:

• An amendment removing “most” votes and substituting this phrase with the phrase “highest proportion of votes”;
• An amendment in order to rectify the forfeiture calculation, as the Bill incorrectly excluded those independent candidates who have gained one seat from the calculation;
• An amendment to the calculation formula that will apply when an independent candidate must choose between either taking up a seat in the provincial legislature or the NA;
• Deletions to certain phrases that are redundant and errors that appeared in the Bill; and
• Inclusion of a new item 24(3), which is required in order to do a reverse forfeiture calculation, which is essential to protect seats mid-term, should a vacancy arise.

According to Mothapo, the NCOP also recommended including an entirely new section 23 in the Bill (which would not be part of the Electoral Act), establishing an Electoral Reform Consultation Panel to research, consult on, and make recommendations on prospective electoral system modifications.

“Given the nature of the NCOP’s proposed amendments, the Committee resolved to advertise the NCOP’s proposed amendments for public comment. The Committee also resolved that given the extensive nationwide consultation already conducted on the Bill; as well as the work still required by the Independent Electoral Commission to implement amendments before the next National Elections in 2024, it would not conduct public hearings again after calling for further comments on the Bill.

“Having considered the proposed amendments passed by the NCOP, the Committee tabled the report to the NA with the additional changes referred to above. The report was considered and passed by the NA today,” Mothapo said.

The Bill was initially justified by the Constitutional Court’s decision in the New Nation Movement NPC and Others vs President of the Republic of South Africa and Others case in June 2020, which ruled that the Electoral Act of 1998 was unconstitutional in the sense that adult citizens could only be elected to the NA and Provincial Legislature through their membership in a political parties.

Due to the call for public comment on the NCOP’s proposed amendments and the time given for such public comment to be submitted, it became clear that Parliament would not be able to pass the Bill before the Constitutional Court deadline of 10 December 2022, and thus the Committee resolved to urgently apply to the Constitutional Court for a further extension of the deadline.

The Constitutional Court allowed Parliament till February 28, 2023 to finalise the Bill.