Civil society raises concerns about Electoral Amendment Bill process in Parliament

11 August 2022

My Vote Counts — together with 21 other civil society organisations — has sent a letter to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs relating to our deep concerns over the Electoral Amendment Bill process. Many organisations, including MVC, have been involved in this process since the Constitutional Court declared the Act unconstitutional in 2020 and have written to the Portfolio Committee about the Electoral Amendment Bill process including the flawed participatory process.

As highlighted in the letter, we feel that if Parliament continues to be in favour of the electoral system that held a minority view of the Ministerial Advisory Committee tasked to facilitate the development of the new electoral system for South Africa, and continues to endorse a flawed participatory process, this will not only bring the Act’s constitutionality into question, but also poses several risks for the upcoming 2024 general election.

You will remember that Parliament was granted a further 6 months extension to amend the Electoral Act to allow for the inclusion of independent candidates. The deadline is 10 December 2022. However, Parliament still does not seem to be considering or engaging with the majority view nor entertaining concerns from civil-society over the constitutionality of the process.

Issued by Sheilan Clarke, Head of Communications & Stakeholder Management, 11 August 2022