The issue of electoral reform is gaining momentum in South Africa with three possible new electoral systems in the pipeline for South Africa.
Electoral reform has become a necessity following a finding of the Constitutional Court that the current Electoral Act has to be amended, because it does not allow for individuals to stand for election to Parliament or any of the nine provincial legislatures. The current electoral system only provides for people to stand for election if they are on a party list and does not provide for independents and those unaffiliated to a party to stand for election.
The Constitutional Court has given Parliament until next year to amend the legislation, with the next provincial and national elections likely to be held in 2024.
Speaking on Thursday, Mohammed Valli Moosa, a former cabinet minister and the head of a ministerial advisory committee on the issue, said that three options were under consideration. The first option would make the minimum change to comply with the Constitution, the second would see provincial lists modified to become multi-member constituency lists while national lists are retained, and the third would see the establishment of a constituency system and a parallel national list to ensure proportionality.
According to BusinessLive, Moosa said that the committee was very close to making a recommendation to the Minister of Home Affairs. He said that the order from the court required the direct election of representatives, while the Constitution required that elections also be proportional. ‘A hybrid system with a constituency system of a certain number of MPs and a national list to allow for overall proportionality would do both’, Moosa said.
Last year the Institute of Race Relations released a document with a number of suggestions for electoral reform, which can be read here.