AfriForum: Independent candidates deserve fair representation
The civil rights organisation AfriForum today submitted comments on the Electoral System Reform Bill to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Home Affairs. The amendment changes the definition of “political” party to include individuals and proposes a system for selecting independent candidates. In principle, AfriForum welcomes the establishment of a system that enables independent candidates to stand for local and national elections.
However, where the current bill fundamentally falls short is that individuals standing as independent candidates can be allocated only one seat, regardless of the number of votes received. Hypothetically, this means that an independent individual can receive the same number of votes as a political party with a large number of seats, but still only one seat will be allocated. Against this background, AfriForum does not support the implementation of the bill in its current form and the civil rights organisation requests the legislature to amend the legislation in accordance with the comments.
“The basic principle of representative democracy is that no votes are wasted, and that the degree of political support is reflected in the allocated number of seats. It is unfair that independent candidates, who receive large numbers of votes, will not receive a corresponding number of seats. The implementation of the bill in the current format will water down representative democracy in this country,” says Reiner Duvenage, Campaign Officer for strategy and content at AfriForum.
