JONNY STEINBERG: SA’s electoral system enables the crazies to bloom
Low-threshold proportional representation absolutely does not allow fresh forces to sweep away encrusted old parties
SA’s electoral system is serving it badly. We like to think our low-threshold proportional representation (PR) system is optimally democratic, allowing the voices of ordinary people to be heard. But the very opposite is in fact the case. If any further proof is necessary it is the fate of the various parties that have formed in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
On the one hand, there are the serious new parties led by substantial people offering sophisticated policy agendas. They are all failing. Songezo Zibi’s Rise Mzansi will be lucky if it gets 1% of the vote. Roger Jardine’s Change Starts Now buckled before it got into the starting blocks. Mmusi Maimane’s Build One SA is promising to be largely irrelevant...
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