Sometimes a politician says something so daft and indefensible that one cannot but wonder whether he or she thinks ordinary voters are complete and utter fools. Maybe this does not surprise many people because they have come to expect that politicians will lie to them. But being an eternal optimist – one of the few [...]
Posts under ‘Electoral system’
Electoral system in need of a change
Tomorrow 400 members of the National Assembly will be sworn in and will take up their seats in Parliament. They will then elect a new President who – if everything goes according to plan (one never knows!) – will head the Executive for the next five years. These MP’s will swear (or solemnly affirm – accommodating [...]
The Scorpions saga continues, but to no avail?
Hugh Glenister is lodging yet another court application to try and have the legislation abolishing the Scorpions overturned. After reading the papers submitted to the Court I am rather skeptical that this new application will be successful. Glenister’s main argument is that the legislation was passed because the Scorpions “has been too effective when it [...]
IEC in contempt of court?
What is going on at the Electoral Commission (as the IEC is called in the Consgitution)? They will spend almost R1 billion this year to deliver a free and fair election to all South Africans. One would think with this money they could pay someone to design the necessary forms to comply with the law [...]
Limited victory for voters abroad
The Constitutional Court today handed down two judgments which will allow registered voters who will be out of the country on election day to cast a vote in the National Assembly election. However, unregistered voters will not be able to vote in the 2009 election, although such voters might still bring an application later to [...]
Defending the indefensible… and then not.
I loved the introductory paragraph to a story in today`s Business Day on the Constitutional Court case about the right of South Africans abroad to vote:
By the time the judges of the Constitutional Court had finished with them, all the parties in yesterday’s case — about the right of South Africans living abroad to vote — [...]
Citizens abroad to vote – if registered….
The Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court today declared invalid section 33(1)(b) and parts of section 33(1)(e) of the Electoral Act, and ordered the Electoral Commission to do all things necessary to ensure that all categories of citizens absent from the Republic of South Africa who are registered as voters will be entitled in [...]
Yengeni, Winnie not eligible for Parly?
The preliminary list of ANC candidates for election to the National Assembly was leaked to the newspapers this week. Two of the names that appear very high up on that list are Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Tony Yengeni. Questions are now asked about whether these stallwarts of the national democratic revolution are eligible for selection to [...]
Why can’t South Africans abroad vote?
Several people have asked me whether it is true that South Africans who find themselves outside the country on election day next year will be prevented from voting and whether this does not infringe on their right to vote entrenched in section 19 of the Constitution. Many South Africans live and work abroad and in [...]
Floor crossing and an ANC “split”
When it was announced earlier this year that the ANC has had a change of heart about the much maligned floor crossing legislation and that it will now support the abolition of floor crossing, many people were pleasantly surprised. Since floor crossing was introduced after the marriage of the Democratic Party and the National Party, [...]
