{"id":698239,"date":"2023-06-22T17:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=698239"},"modified":"2023-06-22T17:00:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:00:44","slug":"south-africas-new-election-laws-are-now-in-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/698239\/south-africas-new-election-laws-are-now-in-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s new election laws are now in effect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Electoral Amendment Act of 2023 is now fully operational after being signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a gazette published by the Department of Home Affairs on Thursday (22 June 2023), the President determined 19 June 2023 as the commencement date for the new regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main amendment of the electoral act allows for the inclusion and nomination of independent candidates for roles in the National Assembly and provincial legislature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A previous judgement in the matter of New Nation Movement NPC and the Vice President of the Republic of South Africa &amp; others said that the Electoral Act of 1998 was unconstitutional for stipulating that those running for National Assembly and provincial legislatures had to be members of a political party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other changes to the law include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The requirements which must be met by persons who wish to be nominated as independent candidates;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The inspection of copies of lists of independent candidates and accompanying documents;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provision for objections to independent candidates;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The inclusion of a list of independent candidates entitled to contest elections;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Requirement for the appointment of agents by independent candidates;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Obligation for independent candidates to abide by the Electoral Code of Conduct;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A revised formula for the allocation of seats and their re-allocation in the event of vacated seats; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stipulation for the Minister to establish the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Electoral Amendment Bill marks a significant milestone in the evolution of our democracy by expanding electoral participation and widening the pool of leadership choice for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. The bill presents a development that can only enrich and sustain our growing constitutional democracy,\u201d <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/680959\/ramaphosa-signs-new-election-changes-into-law\/\" target=\"_blank\">the President<\/a> previously said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Criticisms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, civil society groups have questioned the constitutional validity of the new amendments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/681121\/instant-blowback-for-south-africas-new-election-laws\/\" target=\"_blank\">Outa\u2019s<\/a> Rachel Fischer said that some of the concerns relating to the new act include the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Proportionality will be affected due to the three-ballot system \u2013 two ballots for the National Assembly and one ballot for the relevant provincial legislature.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The fact that independent candidates can only contest 200 seats in the National Assembly and not the other 200 compensatory seats<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All the wasted votes that will occur<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Independent candidates can only win one seat in the National Assembly once votes equal to the seat quota are met. All excess votes are discarded.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Solutions for vacancies due to the resignation or passing of an MP are not clear<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The group also added that there are still other headwinds for candidates who want to run for parliament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor instance, independents require signatures equal to 15% of the quota of votes required for a seat in the previous elections in order to qualify for the election, which is roughly 6,000 signatures,\u201d said Outa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Solidarity, Build One South African, and the Legal Resources Centre have joined OUTA in calling the bill unfair and unjust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Electoral-Amendment-Law-June-22.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/698143\/south-africa-sniffing-around-for-r30-billion-in-funding-to-tackle-the-water-crisis\/\">South Africa sniffing around for R30 billion in funding to tackle the water crisis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Electoral Amendment Act of 2023  is now fully operational, a gazette from the Department of Home Affairs confirmed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":648069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-698239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698239"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698265,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698239\/revisions\/698265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}