LETTER: German electoral system suits SA

The Electoral Reform Consultation Panel need not reinvent the wheel. Germany’s combined constituency and proportional system is an ideal model for SA.

Candidates for the German Bundestag stand for election in a UK-style first-past-the-post system. The candidate with the most votes wins. However, voters cast two ballots, one in their constituency and the other for the party of their choice via a proportional list system.

If party A gains fewer constituency seats than are reflected in their share of the proportional vote, it is awarded additional seats from their list. This rebalancing continues until each party has seats in the Bundestag that accord with their share of the proportional vote.

For a party to enter the Bundestag there is a threshold requirement of 5% of the proportional vote, or three constituency seats. With this system the total number of occupied seats in parliament varies depending on the election outcome.

This system is nevertheless simpler than most other EU proportional systems. If implemented in SA this would provide the best of both worlds — a good proportion of parliamentary members accountable to voters in specific constituencies; and the addition of top-up members ensuring our range of political philosophies is fully reflected by the various parties.

Our maturing — and increasingly fragmented — polity would best be accommodated via a German-type electoral system. 

Willem Cronje
Cape Town

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