‘Undemocratic’ voting system can be fixed to ‘give real power to the people’

Our current national election system is undemocratic because we can’t hold our representatives in parliament fully accountable … and it’s our fault because we’ve let it continue untouched.

Constitutional expert Prof Shadrack Gutto described the proportional representation (PR) system – which is used to elect members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures – as “an anomaly”.

Under PR, MPs are chosen on a party list system in proportion to the overall number of votes each party gets in a national election. The voters have no say in choosing the actual person who represents them.

In a constituency system, voters choose between different candidates in their area. This allows them to vote outside of party lines for a person they believe would pursue their interests and also to hold their representative personally accountable.

However, said Gutto, the current national voting system can be fixed.

He said the fact that a mixed PR and constituency system was being applied at local government level showed it was possible at other levels.

He was reacting to yesterday’s calls by Congress of the People (Cope) for the Electoral Act to be amended, to allow for individuals who want to stand for elections at the National Assembly and provincial legislature to be able to do so.

It is a move, if supported by the majority in parliament, that would be groundbreaking and contribute to greater accountability of elected representatives.

However, the other major parties in parliament don’t appear to have given the matter any thought.

Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota was adamant that their proposed change would help to return real power to the people.

Lekota introduced a Private Members Bill to amend the Act, to ensure democratic people-based elections were not only applied at local government, but also at the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

Lekota said the lack of democratic accountability was the reason former president Jacob Zuma acted with impunity and that corruption in the form of state capture and looting at VBS and state-owned enterprises occurred unabated.

He believes had people elected the president directly, Zuma would have been long gone, and individual parliamentarians removed for under-performance.

Gutto said the concept of multi-party democracy needed to be clarified through the Constitutional Review Commission, or taken straight to the Constitutional Court.

Cope said it would canvass civil society, business, the religious fraternity and other stakeholders to support its idea to have the Electoral Act amended.

ANC caucus spokesperson Nonceba Mhlauli said the ANC would only have a position on the matter once it came before the parliamentary committee.

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said the party caucus had not yet discussed the matter.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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