Committee endorses desirability of Electoral Amendment Bill

Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs has adopted a motion of desirability for the controversial Electoral Amendment Bill which opens the way for it to begin clause by clause deliberations.

An amendment to the motion proposed by DA MP Adrian Roos was adopted, which said that the bill must embody the principle of general proportionality as instructed by the Constitutional Court in its June 2020 judgment. This ruling found that the Electoral Act is unconstitutional in that it does not allow for independent candidates to stand for national and provincial elections.

The court gave parliament two years to change the legislation, a deadline, which expires on June 10 but parliament has applied to the court for a six-month extension.

The principle of proportionality between votes cast and seats allocated is central to the criticisms of the Electoral Amendment Bill, which opponents say violates this principle in the way seats are allocated and by setting unequal thresholds that independent candidates and candidates for political parties have to obtain for them to secure a seat in the legislature.

The motion of desirability is very general and does not go into the details of what the bill must contain. It says, among other things, that the bill must provide that registered parties submit a declaration confirming that all their candidates are registered to vote in the region or province where an election will take place; for the nomination of independent candidates to contest elections in the National Assembly or provincial legislatures; and provide for the requirements and qualifications that must be met by persons who wish to be registered as independent candidates.

ensorl@businesslive.co.za