Tracking the Electoral Reform Legislation in Parliament

03 March 2022

Tracking the Electoral Reform Legislation in Parliament

Parliament is currently working with the Department of Home Affairs to reform legislation that will allow independent candidates to contest national and provincial elections.

This comes after the June 11 2020 Constitutional Court decision that "declared the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 unconstitutional to the extent that it requires that adult citizens may only be elected to the National Assembly (NA) and Provincial Legislatures (PLs) only through their membership of political parties."

Further, the Constitutional Court directed Parliament to rectify the defective sections of the Electoral law within a period of 24 months; that is from June 2020 to June 2022.

In response to the Constitutional Court judgement, the Minister of Home Affairs established a Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) to explore a variety of options and hear from a range of stakeholders. Cabinet considered and approved the submission of the Report of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Electoral System Reform to Parliament on 24 November 2021.

The Electoral Amendment Bill (B1-2022) was introduced in Parliament on 10 January 2022. You can track the bill's processing here

On 15 February, the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs released its legislative programme for the Electoral Amendment Bill. You can find it here. From 7 to 23 March, the Committee is scheduled to hold provincial public hearings on the Bill. Find programme here.

On 26 April, Parliament filed papers with the Constitutional Court requesting a six month extension of the deadline for the finalisation of the amendment of the Electoral Act. The extension was granted on 10 June and the new deadline is 10 December 2022.

On 1 September, the National Assembly granted the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs permission to extend the scope of the Electoral Amendment Bill.

Sample of the written submissions sent to Parliament: