subscribe Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Subscribe now
Picture: SUNDAY TIMES/ALAISTER RUSSELL
Picture: SUNDAY TIMES/ALAISTER RUSSELL

For more than three years, One South Africa Movement has been promoting electoral reform and the importance of constitutionalism, the rule of law and justice and protecting the rights of minorities. However, for the last four weeks we are well aware of the ticking time bomb of OSA’s  legal challenge  to the Electoral Amendment Act before the Constitutional Court.

Now that the new Electoral Amendment Act has been promulgated by the president in the Government Gazette that determined June 19 2023 as the date that the act came into operation, many constitutional questions become more urgent.

One such urgent matter is what if a vacancy occurs.

The latest events revolve around political party Cope, deregistered as a company under the Companies Act. I  want to bring attention to the important fact that if a vacancy should occur regarding the two National Assembly seats occupied by Cope members, the new act will be used and constitutional flaws will follow.

According to the new Electoral Amendment Act, to allocate the two seats the IEC must allocate the seats via re-calculation. In the OSA application to the Constitutional Court to challenge the amendments brought about by the Electoral Amendment Act, the unfairness of the recalculations used to fill the vacancies was highlighted. In any such recalculation, the quota is reduced, which automatically favours the largest party more than any other party.

As it turns out, if the act is used to reallocate the two seats, then  both of the seats will be given to the ANC, increasing their seat tally from 230 to 232 in the National Assembly. Other parties will remain unchanged.

A bias in the recalculation process violates the proportionality requirement in section 46 of the constitution, as well as section 19 of the right to free and fair elections. It is not merely that a party happens to get slightly more than their fair share, but that the process inherently favours the largest party in each instance. These concerns were conveyed to parliament in the public submissions to the Electoral Amendment Bill in 2022,  but were not addressed.

 

Dr Michael Louis, 

Chairman

One South Africa movement, via email

subscribe Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Subscribe now

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.