JONNY STEINBERG: SA’s electoral system enforces voting along racial lines
Low-threshold proportional representation fails to create parties that are attractive to voters
There is a case to be made that the fate of the DA will determine the future of politics in SA, for if the last election results portend the future, the DA is the only vehicle likely to break historical patterns of voting. The question is whether SA’s electoral system will allow the DA, or any other party for that matter, ever to play this role.
The election came dispiritingly close to resembling a racial census. Nine out of 10 black voters chose the ANC or its populist offshoots. Eight out of 10 white voters chose the DA. Three decades into democracy, the task of getting significant proportions of black and white South Africans to vote for the same party remains elusive...
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