# summary - Link: https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/electoral-amendment-bill-2022/summary/ - Published: 2022-09-04T14:31:41+02:00 - Author: dearSA [ Have your say on the draft Bill](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/electoral-amendment-bill-2022/) ### Articles of interest * **Moneyweb** – [ConCourt presented with early challenge to Electoral Amendment Bill](https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/concourt-presented-with-early-challenge-to-electoral-amendment-bill/) * **TimesLIVE** – [ConCourt grants parliament more time to finalise Electoral Amendment Bill](https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2022-12-10-concourt-grants-parliament-more-time-to-finalise-electoral-amendment-bill/) * **News24** – [OPINION | Mudzuli Rakhivhane: MPs refusal to engage on Electoral Amendment Bill unconstitutional](https://www.news24.com/news24/columnists/guestcolumn/opinion-mudzuli-rakhivhane-mps-refusal-to-engage-on-electoral-amendment-bill-unconstitutional-20220823?fbclid=IwAR2blnbaQkS2g_-cYNusr99s9yDcq19OF7B75jbHtycLDADnIMvAryKSw34) * **Daily Maverick** – [Time to talk bluntly about Parliament’s blatant Stalingrad tactics on electoral reform](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-08-30-time-to-talk-bluntly-about-parliaments-blatant-stalingrad-tactics-on-electoral-reform/?fbclid=IwAR0MQAKS9IfeFbw3_llCCNsm-l5dqmb_WwS20KjEq19QO95_Ybajx3FyIUM) Proposed amendments  ⌊Loader⌉ Loading... ⌊EAD Logo⌉ Taking too long? ⌊Reload⌉ Reload document | [ ⌊Open⌉ Open in new tab ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/11182529/List_of_proposed_amendments_from_the_NCOP.pdf) [Download [35.99 KB] ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/11182529/List_of_proposed_amendments_from_the_NCOP.pdf) Electoral Amendment Bill ⌊Loader⌉ Loading... ⌊EAD Logo⌉ Taking too long? ⌊Reload⌉ Reload document | [ ⌊Open⌉ Open in new tab ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/12131533/B1B-2022-electoral-laws-2022-ag_B1B-2022-electoral-laws-2022-ag.pdf) [Download [102.95 KB] ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/12131533/B1B-2022-electoral-laws-2022-ag_B1B-2022-electoral-laws-2022-ag.pdf) _**National Assembly** — Briefing by the State Law Advisers on the proposed amendments of the Electoral Amendment Bill; Considerations, deliberations and adoption of the proposed amendments to the Electoral Amendment Bill, 2 December 2022_ Letter from Civil Society  ⌊Loader⌉ Loading... ⌊EAD Logo⌉ Taking too long? ⌊Reload⌉ Reload document | [ ⌊Open⌉ Open in new tab ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/04151615/civil-society-letter-1.pdf) [Download [714.49 KB] ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/04151615/civil-society-letter-1.pdf) Promote participation with a QR code poster/flyer – distribute/place at the office ⌊Loader⌉ Loading... ⌊EAD Logo⌉ Taking too long? ⌊Reload⌉ Reload document | [ ⌊Open⌉ Open in new tab ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/04153052/EAB22-38-QR-poster.pdf) [Download [185.64 KB] ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/04153052/EAB22-38-QR-poster.pdf) Parliament Application to Constitutional Court ⌊Loader⌉ Loading... ⌊EAD Logo⌉ Taking too long? ⌊Reload⌉ Reload document | [ ⌊Open⌉ Open in new tab ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/12131311/221202Affidavit_signed_and_commissioned_by_Speaker.pdf) [Download [9.01 MB] ](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/12131311/221202Affidavit_signed_and_commissioned_by_Speaker.pdf) ### The proposed amendments from the National Council of Provinces to the Bill [B1B-2022] are as follows: * **An amendment to clause 3 of the Bill** by proposing the inclusion of a further paragraph to section 27 of the Electoral Act, 1998, (which section is already being amended by the Bill). This proposed amendment will address the disparity between party candidates and independent candidates as the Bill currently only requires independent candidates to produce signatures supporting their candidature totalling 20% of the quota for a seat in the previous comparable election. The proposed amendment to this clause in the Bill now intends to provide that parties, who are registered but not represented in the National Assembly or provincial legislatures, will also have to produce the same amount of signatures in support of their party when intending to contest an election. The amendment further intends that, should multiple regions be contested by unrepresented parties, the highest quota of the comparable election determines the number of signatures. For the National Assembly (regions), the signatures may be collected from any registered voter on the voters’ roll, while for the provincial legislatures, the signatures must be collected from the relevant provincial segment of the voters’ roll. Once the independent candidates and registered parties are represented in the National Assembly or provincial legislatures, they would be exempt from this requirement. * **Amendments to clause 6 of the Bill** to bring the wording and requirements imposed on independent candidates to be aligned with the requirements now being imposed on parties by the amendment to clause 3. * **Amendments to clause 21 of the Bill** dealing with Schedule 1A, which include: - an amendment removing “most” votes and substituting this phrase with the phrase“ highest proportion” of votes; - an amendment in order to rectify the forfeiture calculation, as the Bill incorrectly excluded those independent candidates who have gained one seat from the calculation; - an amendment to the type of calculation formula that will apply when an independent candidate must make a choice between either taking up a seat in the provincial legislature or the National Assembly; - deletions to certain phrases that are redundant and errors that appeared in the Bill; and - an inclusion of a new item 24(3), which is required if seats need to be protected during recalculations arising from vacancies after the election results have been determined. * **The inclusion of an entirely new clause** 23 in the Bill (which will not form part of the Electoral Act) establishing an Electoral Reform Consultation Panel to investigate, consult on and make recommendations in respect of potential reforms of the electoral system. ### STATEMENTS FROM OTHER ORGANISATIONS Click on a logo to view. Want to display your organisation’s statement? [Click here. ](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/electoral-amendment-bill-2022/summary/ eab@dearsouthafrica.co.za?subject=org info for EAB info page) [ ⌊ICASA logo⌉](https://icasouthafrica.org/) Close ### Cape Independence Advocacy Group ### Dear Speaker, I am writing to you on behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) and the seventy thousand South Africans who actively follow our work. We wish to comment on the ‘Electoral Commissions Amendment Act, 2021’, which is proposed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and was published in the Government Gazette on 21 June 2021. Given our mandate, our comments are made in the context of the Western Cape, although we appreciate and respect that the constitutional rights enacted through this bill will rightfully apply to all provinces. This bill is essential to restoring some degree of functional democracy to the voters of the Western Cape and we therefore unreservedly and wholeheartedly endorse it. Through their voting behaviour, Western Cape voters have made it abundantly clear that they do not endorse many of the policy and ideological positions of the South African national government, but are left utterly powerless to resist them because the voters in other South African provinces, who greatly outnumber them, hold starkly different ideological and political opinions. In terms of seeing their democratic will enacted, for the majority of Western Cape voters, the democratic era has not offered much of an improvement over the apartheid era. It is a statistical fact that, since 1994, the majority of Western Cape voters have never been governed by the political party they voted for, and they have no foreseeable prospect of ever being governed by the party they vote for. As such, they cannot be said to have functional democracy. One of the few glimmers of democratic hope Western Cape voters do have, is the provision of Clause 127(2)(f) of the national constitution, and 37(2)(f) of the Western Cape constitution, which allows them, at the discretion of the premier who they elected, to have their voices heard on matters which are important to them, without being drowned out by a national majority who fundamentally hold different views. To deny Western Cape voters this constitutional right would be a very serious infringement of their political rights and freedoms, and would be a clear indication that parliament and the national government are not interested in the constitutional rights and democratic wishes of Western Cape voters. We therefore call upon parliament to pass this bill at the earliest opportunity, and without objection. Yours Faithfully **Phil Craig (On behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group)