Electoral Reform Consultation Panel Preliminary Recommendations Made Public

The Electoral Reform Consultation Panel tabled its three preliminary recommendations today on how South Africa’s present 100% Proportional Representation (“PR”) electoral system for national and provincial elections should be reformed and may impact the 2029 election.

First, a variation of the current system with 200 seats distributed across nine Multi-Member Constituencies (“MMCs”) and 200 compensatory seats (“PR seats”) to ensure PR, together making up Parliament’s National Assembly’s 400 seats. “However, this option is not favoured by the Foundation, because it will discourage micro political parties, still creates a large distance between elected representatives and voters and makes it very difficult for individual candidates to contest,” states Daniela Ellerbeck, an attorney and the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Programmes Manager.

Second, 200 seats distributed across 41 MMCs in proportion to the number of registered voters in each constituency (possibly using existing municipal and district boundaries) and 200 PR seats. “While the smaller size of the MMCs would create a closer direct link between voters and their elected representatives, it would allow more than one political party to represent a constituency and may still water down accountability and make it difficult to assess the performance of individual representatives,” explains Shanees Nkandu, an intern at the Foundation.

Third, and finally, the Panel recommended 200 Single Member Constituencies (“SMCs”) seats and 200 PR seats. “The Foundation has always supported SMCs, because this option brings voters the closest to their elected representative as there is only one elected representative per constituency,” states Ellerbeck. “This makes it easier for the voter to evaluate their representative’s performance and makes the representative more…