Everything about Elections In South Africa totally explained
Elections in South Africa take place on national, provincial, and local levels.
South Africa is a multi-party democracy with the
African National Congress in power with a significant majority since 1994. A system of
proportional representation, incorporating
party lists, is in place which makes it possible for small parties to achieve representation in parliament.
The
parliament has
two chambers, and elects the
president. The
National Assembly has 400 members, elected for a five year term. The
National Council of Provinces has 90 members, elected for a five year term by the provincial parliaments. The National Assembly and Provincial Councils are elected when
General Elections are held.
Members to the local governing councils in the
municipalities and mayors are elected in
municipal elections.
History
Early days of the Union
At the time of Unification and admission as a dominion of
Great Britain in 1910 until the 1929 elections the franchise structures of the constituent colonies were applied. Subsequently only white men were allowed to vote in three of the provinces while a highly restricted number of black and coloured men where able to vote in the
Cape Province. In 1930 white
women received political franchise. However by 1939 black men were disenfranchised in the Cape by being placed on a separate voters roll - eventually this representation was removed.
Constitutional Crisis in 1950s
After coming to power in 1948 the National Party engaged in a policy of removing coloured voters in a similar manner to black voters. This policy lead to legal challenges and amounted to a Constitutional Crisis which was stopped by Parliament reconstituting the Senate. During the crisis the Supreme Court asserted its right to test the procedure of law creation by Parliament.
Republic of South Africa
In
1960 a referendum was held to decide whether to become a republic. No changes were made to the franchise with the Republic's emergence in 1961. However with the policy of establishing Bantustans the remaining representation in the Senate was completely removed.
Tricameral Parliament
After
the 1983 referendum, it was decided to create a
Tricameral Parliament, giving limited political franchise to the Coloured and Indian population groups.
End of Apartheid
After
the 1992 referendum, deciding to end
apartheid,
universal suffrage was implemented allowing people of all races to take part in the first democratic elections in
1994.
Since 1994 all adult South Africans have in principle possessed the franchise and the right to vote is entrenched in the Constitution, however various logistical challenges still exist as is common with all democracies
Election results
2004 general election
Past elections and referendumsMunicipal
Further Information
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