National Assembly 2009

Description of Electoral System:

The President is the Head of State and Government. The President is elected by every new National Assembly to serve a five year term and is restricted two terms. The Deputy President is appointed by the President from amongst members of the National Assembly and can be dismissed by the President.

Parliament consists of ­ the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National Assembly consists of 400 members elected in a proportional representation system (with no minimum entry threshold) and members are elected by direct universal adult franchise; 130 members are elected from national party lists, the other 270 are elected from party lists in each of the nine provinces. Members serve a five year term. The National Council of Provinces is comprised of a delegation of ten members from each of the nine provincial legislatures and each delegation has one vote. Members of a delegation are allocated to parties in proportion to their seats in the provincial legislature of that province.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR SOUTH AFRICA? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Politics of South Africa

Events

Workshop: Political Parties workshop

EISA will hold a capacity building workshop for South African political parties from 26 - 28 May 2008 at EISA, Johannesburg

Training: BRIDGE trained the Facilitators in Pretoria

IDEA in partnership with the South Africa Electoral Commission (IEC) held a 10 day BRIDGE Train the Facilitator Course in In Pretoria, South Africa on 3 – 14 March 2008

Conference: Local Government White Paper Review

The GGLN invites all civil society organisations, local governance researchers and the media to a conference  to review the White Paper on Local Government on 15th and 16th October in Johannesburg. More...

Symposium: Democracy and Development

The Second Annual EISA Symposium will be held from 20-24 October 2007, Johannesburg, South Africa entitled "In Search of Sustainable Democratic Governance for Africa: Does Democracy Work for Developing Countries?"

Electoral reform conference

EISA and the Konrad- Anenauer-Stiftung presented "Electoral Systems and Accountability: Options for Electoral Reforms in South Africa" 28 August 2007 at

Vineyard, Cape Town. More...

The Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 from four British colonies. In 1912, the South Africa Native National Congress was founded in Bloemfontein and eventually became known as the African National Congress (ANC). Its goals were the elimination of restrictions based on colour and the enfranchisement of and parliamentary representation for Africans. Despite these efforts the government continued to pass laws limiting the rights and freedoms of blacks. South Africa legally became independent with the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931.

In 1948 the National Party (NP) won the all-white elections and passed legislation codifying and enforcing an even stricter policy of white domination and racial separation known as "apartheid" which intensified resistance. In the early 1960s Nelson Mandela and many other anti-apartheid leaders were convicted and imprisoned on charges of treason. The ANC and PAC were forced to fight apartheid underground through rebel warfare and sabotage. In May 1961, South Africa became a republic. It withdrew from the Commonwealth because of international protests against apartheid.

Between 1976 and 1985 popular uprisings in African and Coloured townships, along with international economic sanctions, increasingly whites of the need for change. Secret discussions were held between those members and Nelson Mandela began in 1986 and culminated in the unbanning of the ANC and all other anti-apartheid groups and the release of Nelson Mandela and other leaders from prison in 1990. Racially discriminatory laws were repealed and after a long series of negotiations, the country saw its first free and fair election 1994, with the ANC gaining a clear majority in the National Assembly and Nelson Mandela emerging as President.

Over time political violence has decreased, economic growth has risen and the government has managed to extend services to those who had been discriminated against in the past. However, the benefits have been unevenly distributed and a large class of people has emerged that is in danger of being locked into a downward spiral of increasing impoverishment and misery. On the other hand the high expectations of those who have seen moderate improvements have led to increasing dissatisfaction and social unrest.

Previous elections

DID YOU KNOW? Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the first woman to hold this office

In the 2004 National Assembly election the ANC won 69.7% of the votes, followed by Democratic Alliance with 12.4%, the Inkatha Freedom Party with 7.0% and the remaining 10.97% was shared 18 other parties of which nine gained seats. Thabo Mbeki was elected as President for a second term by the National Assembly (for more detail see: National results 2004).

Next elections

The next National Assembly election is due in 2009 and Local government election will be held in 2011.