- Parliament submitted an urgent request to the Constitutional Court to extend the deadline for enacting the electoral reform bill.
- This was necessitated by the NCOP changes to the bill, which requires another round of public input.
- If granted, this will be the second postponement of the term.
Four days before the deadline set by the Constitutional Court, Parliament submitted an urgent request to the higher court to extend the date by which the Electoral Reform Bill must be enacted.
Parliament announced in a statement on Tuesday that it will ask the Constitutional Court to extend the deadline again, this time until February 28, 2023.
This was necessary because the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) made changes to the bill that was approved by the National Assembly in October.
The NCOP made two major changes, proposed by Home Secretary Aaron Motsoaledi.
Chief among the NCOP changes is a clause establishing the establishment of a panel of experts to consider broader electoral reform than is envisioned in the current bill.
This came in the wake of widespread criticism of the bill from civil society, with a hybrid proportional/electoral system being the preference of many.
It is not plausible to implement such a system in time for the 2024 elections, nor does it have the support of the ruling ANC.
The other change involves changing the threshold for supporter signatures, aligning what a party needs to register with what an independent candidate needs to compete in an election.
After the NCOP adopted the bill, it was referred back to the National Assembly Portfolio Committee for Internal Affairs.
The committee received a legal opinion that the changes would require a new round of public input.
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This would take time, and with the deadline approaching, the committee unanimously agreed that Parliament should again approach the Constitutional Court for an extension.
“The practical consequence of these major proposed amendments is that the bill has had to be referred back to the National Assembly for consideration. As a consequence, it will not be possible to pass the bill before December 10, 2022 and, therefore, it is necessary to seek a new extension of the suspension period until February 28, 2023,” read a statement from the Speaker of Parliament, Moloto Mothapo.
“This brief extension is designed to allow for adequate public input regarding the proposed amendments while ensuring that the Electoral Commission has adequate time to prepare for the 2024 election.
“There is no prejudice to either party should this extension be granted.”
The bill is a consequence of a Constitutional Court ruling of June 11, 2020 that declared the Electoral Law unconstitutional “to the extent that it requires that citizens of legal age may be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures only through their affiliation with political parties.
The Constitutional Court suspended the declaration of unconstitutionality for “24 months to give Parliament the opportunity to remedy the defect that gave rise to the unconstitutionality.”
READ | Why Parliament missed ConCourt’s initial deadline on the election amendment bill
Parliament initially deferred work on the amendment to the Home Department, and the bill was only tabled in parliament on January 10, leaving the legislature with the impossible task of passing the bill within six months.
The Constitutional Court was asked for an extension of the June 10 deadline in April, and was granted a six-month extension on the day the deadline expired.
The court considered that it was in the interest of justice to extend Parliament’s deadline for passing the Electoral Amendment Act by six months, but did not take kindly to both Motsoaledi and Parliament in its ruling granting the extension.
The court concluded: “It naturally follows that it was also incumbent on Parliament to make a request for extension in due time.”
