Parliament seeks electoral bill extension
PARLIAMENT will ask for yet another extension from the Constitutional Court in order to finalise the bill that provides for independent candidates to contest elections in Parliament and provincial legislatures.
This comes after the home affairs portfolio committee decided on Friday to ask the National Assembly to request an extension to finalise the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The move comes after the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed the bill last week, with substantive amendments that require public participation. The amendments include the establishment of an electoral reform consultation panel.
Such a panel would look into the country’s electoral system after the 2024 elections.
The bill is a sequel to a Constitutional Court judgment delivered in June 2020, which found the Electoral Act unconstitutional because it required candidates to be members of political parties if they wished to stand for elections
Briefing the committee, Advocate Steven Budlender, one of the bill’s advisors, said there was a need for an application to the Constitutional Court to ask for an extension.
“It must be lodged urgently. “It should be launched at the very latest on Monday. It has to be a month or two,” Bundlender said.
Parliament was given until June 2022 to remedy the defect, but it asked for an extension, which ended on December 10.
Parliamentary legal advisor, Siviwe Njikela, noted that the court deadline was looming. “It seems to me that it has become apparent already that there may have to be an application for an application. It could be up to February,” Njikela said.
He also noted that the festive season might impact pubic participation.
Another parliamentary legal advisor, Daksha Kassan, said: “Any material changes made to the bill, not in the public domain, needs to be further consulted on.”
ANC MP Moleboheng Modise said they should seek counsel for legal advice for an extension and take the bill for further consultation.
IFP MP, Liezl van der Merwe, said her party fully agreed that the changes made by the NCOP were substantial and needed a further call for public comment on the clauses.
DA MP Angel Khanyile said the committee should agree on the time frame needed to allow public participation.
Freedom Front Plus MP Frederik Jacobus Mulder said: “It is unfortunate that we sit with this situation at this time of the year but it is what it is.”
Independent Electoral Commission chairperson, Mosoptho Moepya, said they understood that the papers would be served to the Constitutional Court, and urged that the extension should be for a short period.
“We will consider the matter and look at the proposal made on the papers to the court,” he added.
Committee chairperson, Mosa Chabane, said the court would be approached on the two substantive issues that arose from the NCOP.
“We will seek consultation with our people. We must approach the Parliament to request permission for that decision,” Chabane said.