Our report started in Chapter 2 with South Africa’s long journey to universal franchise and the country’s first democratic election in 1994. This included examining the origins of the system adopted in 1994 as part of South Africa’s democratic transition. In Chapter 3, we considered the recommendations of previous commissions since 1994 to strengthen South African democracy. Looking ahead to the next thirty years of democracy, we must reflect on where we are heading and whether our institutions are capable of meeting the aspirations of South Africans.
Chapter 4 introduced fundamental concepts in electoral system design. This includes the research evidence for how the various elements of electoral systems impact the realisation of our country’s founding constitutional values as set out in the Panel’s guiding principles. A central finding is understanding the mechanisms behind a two-tier compensatory system, which leads to outcomes identical to a straight nationwide allocation. In such systems, the size of constituencies becomes irrelevant to the final results and overall proportionality of the system as long as enough compensatory seats are allocated at a second stage to correct for any disproportionality at the constituency-level. This leads to the realisation that the underlying constituencies used in our current system can be made smaller to bring representatives closer to voters without any trade-off in proportionality or the inclusivity of election results.
Chapter 5 considered inputs from the public and critical stakeholders. This included over 360 written submissions and events across all nine provinces to hear the views of communities on the question of electoral reform. Overwhelmingly, these discussions were dominated by concerns over the relationship between voters and public representatives. Citizens feel disconnected from their representatives and that representatives are not accountable to them.
Chapter 6 evaluated three electoral system options against the Panel’s guiding principles based on the research evidence presented in Chapter 4. The three options included:
retaining the current system with minor adjustments
introducing smaller multi-member constituencies to bring representatives closer to voters
introducing single-member constituencies with a compensatory element for overall proportionality
The evaluation of options finds that all three options would be equally proportional and result in the same overall political outcomes. No party would be advantaged or disadvantaged by adopting a different system. On most measures, the three options would meet the guiding principles to the same or similar extent. The main area where options diverge is on the extent to which they foster an effective accountability relationship between voters and their representatives.
On the question of accountability to voters, the current system performs the weakest and presents limited advantages that the other options considered do not offer to the same degree or greater. In several ways, our current electoral system is an outlier compared to similar systems used internationally. This includes using the largest constituencies and largest compensatory tier among equivalent proportional representation systems – the combination of which is unnecessary for achieving objectives of inclusion and proportionality. The reform options we propose would achieve the same objectives and overall proportionality while bringing representatives significantly closer to voters and strengthening the accountability relationship.
In light of these findings and the concerns emerging from public consultations, we strongly recommend that Parliament consider electoral reforms to strengthen the relationship between voters and their representatives. Two electoral system options are recommended for Parliament’s consideration:
The introduction of smaller multi-member constituencies with 300 constituency seats and 100 compensatory seats. This system would require minimal delimitation of constituencies and would use existing local government boundaries to determine multi-member constituencies. This electoral system could be deployed concurrently for national and provincial elections using the same or similar constituency boundaries.
The introduction of 200 single-member constituencies and 200 compensatory seats to return overall proportionality. This system would require an extensive delimitation process to determine the boundaries of constituencies. These constituency boundaries would need to be updated between elections in response to population changes. Separate boundaries for single-member constituencies would be needed at the provincial level if this system were deployed concurrently for national and provincial elections. This introduces a level of complexity to such a reform and should be carefully considered.
These recommendations are presented for the consideration of the Minister of Home Affairs and Parliament. They are supported by:
Adv Richard Sizani, Chairperson of the Electoral Reform Consultation Panel
Ms Mmatsie Mooki, Convenor of the Conference Working Group
Ms Tomsie Dlamini, Convenor of the Public Consultation Working Group
Dr Albertus Schoeman, Convenor of the Research Working Group