ELECTORAL REFORM
Independent Panel of Assessment of Parliament in 2009. The mixed electoral system
is used in many countries from Germany to the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. There are various models such as the Additional Member System (AMS) or the Alternative Vote (AV) top-up. The big advantage of a mixed electoral system is that it retains a strong link between representatives and their constituencies.
Electoral reform proposition Earlier this year, the DA tabled an Electoral Amendment Bill which would be relatively simple in its execution. This is how it would work. The Bill would establish 100 three-Member constituencies, each with approximately the same number of voters. The task of determining the boundaries of constituencies would rest with the Electoral Commission. The three MPs representing each constituency would be elected by a system of proportional representation within those constituencies. In practice, this means that voters would vote for the political party of their choice. And the three Members who obtain the requisite quota of votes or largest surpluses would be elected as the MPs for that constituency. Three hundred Members of the National Assembly would be elected in this way.
However, there is also a possibility
every vote counts from, say, an African National Congress voter in a DA stronghold, and vice versa. Simply put, the voter comes before the party. This is not a party political matter. In fact, we believe the issue of electoral reform is bigger than party politics.
The mandate of the Van Zyl
Slabbert Commission, set up by the government in 2003, was to reflect the principle that the electoral system embodies the contract between the voters and the electorate. This principle was bolstered by the
that some parties may not have sufficient support in particular geographic areas to ensure equitable representation in the National Assembly. To correct this, the Bill provides for a further 100 Members of the National Assembly to be elected from national lists submitted by the various parties. Once the constituency representatives have been elected, the chief electoral officer will calculate the number of seats in the National Assembly to which each party is entitled based on the proportion of total votes they obtained in the election. The office will then allocate to parties seats from the lists so that the overall composition of the
National Assembly reflects, as closely as practically possible, the proportion of votes obtained by each party. In this respect the system
proposed in the Bill is not dissimilar to the way in which municipal councils are currently constituted. The reasons for having three Members from each of the 100 constituencies rather than one Member from each of these constituencies are twofold: first, it would increase the likelihood of an individual voter being able to identify
“The big advantage of a mixed electoral system is that it retains a strong link between representatives and their
constituencies.”
with at least one of his or her elected constituency MPs. Secondly, it would enhance the
practicality of achieving the correct party proportionality in the National Assembly after the 100 Members from the national lists have been allocated. The Bill also proposes amendments to the systems of special and absent votes, allowing voters who are abroad to register and to vote for both the National Assembly and their Provincial Legislature. And it would make it possible for voters who are not in the voting district in which they are registered to vote for both the National Assembly and the Provincial legislature.
Shifting power to the people The DA believes that this is an essential reform to give more power to voters than to individual leaders of political parties. Parliament must become more relevant and responsive to the public. And this can only happen if every South African can feel a sense of ownership over their Parliament.
The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One - South Africa | 35
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