Electoral reform: seize the moment
I refer to your article “Time for MPs to get cracking” (Fox, April 1-7). Yes, the Electoral Act needs a revamp. The greatest need in our electoral politics is for a realignment of like with like or similar for similar in our legislative bodies at all three spheres of government.
The real issues affecting the electorate need to be tackled head-on, honestly and energetically across current party divisions. Our pure proportional representation (PR) electoral system at the parliamentary and provincial levels blocks cross party co-operation. If you stray from the party line you are disciplined or thrown out of office.
What is needed is greater flexibility at all three spheres of government for those who think alike to align themselves on important issues. To enable this, a new constituency/ward/PR system is necessary. The Van Zyl Slabbert report of 2003 has some relevance, but what is needed is the elimination of the complexities which arise from multimember constituencies as proposed.
My proposal: elevate the principles of the local government ward and PR list system to the provincial and national spheres of government, with certain modifications. Make the split 75% ward/constituency and 25% PR seats at all three spheres of government.
Demarcate the country into 300 parliamentary and provincial constituencies in each of the nine provinces, considering population concentrations. Some constituencies could have more than 100,000 voters, in line with many of the world’s great democracies. A hundred seats would be allocated on a PR basis. Further, reduce the number of provincial legislature seats to 400 from 430, of which 100 would be PR seats, and for accountability and simplicity reasons, those provincial constituency boundaries would coincide with the parliamentary constituency boundaries.
“Independents” would be accommodated like political parties and could stand wherever they chose. An entry qualification threshold — either monetary or via a petition requiring a certain number of signatures — could apply to both independents and representatives of political parties.
“First past the post” constituency contests would apply. A closed-list PR system would be accessible to “‘individuals” and candidates to win seats should they meet the voter quota for that province for both the parliamentary and provincial contests — as applied by the formula currently used at the local government level.
The constitution does already allow for independent candidates. Think of the 2019 election — of the 45 parties on the national ballot, only 13 won seats in the legislature. The remaining “parties” were effectively individuals canvassing under a party name — a person and a few family members and adherents.
Let us get cracking and formalise the Constitutional Court judgment of 2020 which has created a rare opportunity to craft a judicious electoral system for all spheres of government and set the tone for SA’s democracy for decades to come.
A new electoral system must be simple and cheap to administer, and something voters can relate to, providing accountability mechanisms and a degree of member flexibility.
We must seize this rare moment created by the court ruling — go beyond party interests and do what is best for the long-term interests of the country and change the face of SA politics. Creative solutions are on offer!