South Africans should vote directly for their MPs

The Electoral Reform Consultation Panel (ERCP) has recommended an overhaul of South Africa’s electoral system, which, they argue, does not hold leaders to account. 

Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, tables the report in Parliament on 18 September. 

The researchers found that South Africa’s electoral system has been lacking in accountability since 1994, and several working groups have recommended reforming the system. 

This report is the first to be constituted in law and granted a significant time frame to engage with the public. 

From the Independent Panel Assessment of Parliament in 2006 to the Commission of Inquiry into state capture in 2018, it has been well-documented that voters feel disconnected from their MPs. 

When compared to other system options in accountability, the panel said that the current system “performs the weakest and presents limited advantages that the other options considered do not offer.”

South Africa was found to be an “outlier” compared to other countries using a proportional representation system. 

This is because South Africa uses the largest constituencies and has half of the seats in the National Assembly allocated to a compensatory tier. 

Researchers argue that it is not necessary to have both of these measures in place to ensure proportionality, and the combination of the two has brought significant distance between voters and their representatives. 

This is compounded by the fact that representatives are nominated by political parties in a “closed list system”, meaning voters have no say over the party’s candidates. 

This is common in countries with a proportional representation system; of the 82 countries using this model, 42 use closed lists. 

In an open-list system, voters can express preferences about candidates, and the number of votes received by candidates determines their order on the party list. 

This would be impractical for South Africa, according to the report, as political parties in Gauteng alone can put forward 47 candidates on their party lists for the regional ballot, and 52 political parties contested the 2024 elections.

However, the closed-list system still requires that these candidate lists be published and subjected to comment before elections. 

According to a parliamentary meeting following the 2024 elections, it was noted that these lists are “frequently supplemented with new names and are not open to the public.”

“Party-centric” politics

After extensive public consultation, the panel found that voters feel that their representatives are indifferent to their concerns, and that they don’t know who to hold accountable, as they don’t know who their specific representative is. 

South Africa’s “party-centric” system means that MPs are beholden to their parties, who are responsible for drafting candidate lists, and not to voters. 

Representatives are then encouraged to act in the interest of party leaders, and not the public they represent. 

The common thread in the public consultation process was that there is too much distance between leaders and voters and insufficient accountability. 

The public called for a constituency-based election, where candidates are elected directly. 

“In light of these findings and the concerns emerging, we strongly recommend that Parliament consider electoral reforms to strengthen the relationship between voters and their representatives,” researchers said. 

Two electoral system options have been recommended to address these issues.

The first option is to introduce smaller, multi-member constituencies with 300 constituency seats. 

Instead of all 400 NA seats being allocated through large provincial regions, 300 representatives would be directly elected, and the remaining 100 seats would be compensatory. 

This would use existing local government boundaries and could be implemented concurrently for both national and provincial elections. 

Alternatively, the panel recommended that the country be divided into 200 single-member constituencies, with one candidate elected per district. This is similar to the UK and the US.

The remaining 200 seats would then be allocated through a national compensatory list. This would create the strongest link between voters and representatives.

This system would, however, require an extensive process to determine the boundaries of constituencies, and these would need to be adjusted for every election, as populations shift.

Following similar recommendations from dedicated research groups dating back to 2006, the ERCP’s role in parliament is purely advisory and it remains to be seen whether reforms will be adopted. 

“The final choice rests with parliament, in line with its constitutional powers to determine the electoral system,” the researchers said.