ELECTORAL MATTERS AMENDMENT BILL: PASSED BY NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SENT TO NCOP FOR CONCURRENCE

ELECTORAL MATTERS AMENDMENT BILL: PASSED BY NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SENT TO NCOP FOR CONCURRENCE

• 12 March 2024
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The National Assembly has passed the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill’s ‘B’ version, which will be sent to the NCOP for concurrence. Although most opposition party members present at the sitting voted against the Bill, the final count was 240 in favour and 90 against. There were no abstentions.

As the National Assembly Home Affairs Committee report on the Bill clearly states, the DA, ACDP, FF Plus and IFP objected to it ‘primarily due to concerns about the impact on smaller parties of changing the funding formula, (as well as) … pending regulations related to disclosure threshold and upper donation limits’.

In the absence of the National Assembly Speaker and Deputy Speaker, House Chair for Committees, Cedrick Frolick, presided over the proceedings. His reference to the possibility of a court challenge followed a declaration of vote from FF Plus representative Corné Mulder, in which he warned ruling party members that, by passing the Bill, they ‘run the risk that the court may find – when we approach them – to come with a new formula, (namely) 50:50 between equitable and proportional’.

The Bill makes ‘consequential amendments’ to several statutes in order to accommodate ‘the introduction of independent candidates and independent representatives in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures’. One such statute is the Political Party Funding Act, 2018.

• National Assembly sitting (YouTube)
• Bill’s ‘B’ version
• committee report (page 4 of parliamentary papers)
• parliamentary media statement announcing the National Assembly decision
• pariamentary papers confirming the National Assembly decision
• National Assembly minutes recording votes on the Bill

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT