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Several opposition parties have welcomed the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of the challenge to the Electoral Amendment Act, saying it provides a clear path for the announcement of the election date.
The Constitutional Court on Monday ruled that the splitting of seats in the National Assembly was in line with the Constitution.
The application was brought by the Independent Candidates Association of South Africa (ICA), and supported by Build One South Africa (Bosa).
They wanted to have the Electoral Amendment Act, which allows independent candidates to contest provincial and national elections next year, declared irrational and unconstitutional.
They said, among others, that the allocation of just 200 of the 400 National Assembly seats to independent candidates was inconsistent with the rule of law, and asked for the provision in the Act to be changed as a remedy.
The court found in a unanimous judgment, that the rationality of the 200 regional seats and 200 national seats passed the constitutional test.
Reacting to the Concourt ruling, the Democratic Alliance said it cleared the way for the Independent Electoral Commission to announce the next registration weekend and the election date.
“The IEC is also urged to conclude its consultations with the President on the election date to enable a formal announcement of this date,” said MP Werner Horn.
The Good Party said the judgment confirms that the Electoral Amendment Act is rational and does not infringe on the constitutional rights of voters and potential independent candidates.
Spokesperson, Brett Herron, said the amendment was passed by parliament to give effect to the Constitutional right to be elected to public office as an independent, and not exclusively through membership of a political party.
He said now that the Act has been declared rational and constitutional the IEC can prepare for the 2024 elections and the President can announce the date of the election.
The Electoral Commission meanwhile, said it would immediately put in place the regulations necessary to give practical effect to revisions of the electoral system in the light of the judgement handed down today by the apex court.
"The Electoral Commission has always been of the view that the distribution of seats of the National Assembly between the compensatory tier and the regional tier was rational and satisfied the constitutional requirement for general proportionality.
"The important confirmation of the Constitutional Court is that the contestants in the regional tier of the elections are subject to the same number of votes per seat. Furthermore, that no votes of independents are to be transferred to political parties," said spokesperson, Kate Bapela.
