Private Members Bill seeks to extend access to voting abroad

I have, on behalf of the Democratic Alliance (DA), submitted a legislative proposal to amend current electoral legislation.

If accepted and enacted, the resulting amendments will:

• allow voters living outside of South Africa to register to vote where they live
•  increase access to voting for South Africans living abroad 
• allow South Africans abroad to exercise their vote in provincial as well as in national elections.

Please view the memoradum covering letter here and the memoradum itself here.

The proposed legislation is underpinned by the political rights conferred on all South Africans by Section 19 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996). It is further motivated and justified by two of the four core values of an electoral system, as accepted by the Electoral Task Team in 2003, namely fairness and inclusiveness.

A South African living abroad can currently only vote at South African embassies, consulates and high commissions. In a country such as Australia, with the only South African foreign mission stationed in Canberra, reasonable access to voting, and thus inclusiveness, cannot be said to exist. The distance between Perth, for example, and Canberra is 3911 km. 

There is no logistical reason why the vote should not be extended to provincial ballots. Similarly, there is no logistical reason why unregistered voters living abroad cannot register whilst they are abroad.

The DA does not wish to prescribe to the IEC on ways to extend the vote to South Africans abroad. It is worth noting, however, that many countries across the world utilise combinations of personal voting, postal voting, voting by proxy, e-voting and voting by fax to allow nationals living abroad to exercise their electoral rights. Any method, or combination of methods, would have to be secure enough to protect the secrecy of the vote and the integrity of our electoral system.

The DA is proud of having been a pivotal part of the 2009 Constitutional Court case (Richter v Minister for Home Affairs and Others, (CCT 09/09) [2009] ZACC 3) which ensured the right of all South Africans living abroad to vote in national elections.

We must now progress, and increase the level of inclusivity and fairness our current electoral system provides.

We believe that our legislative proposal will be the first step in this important process.

Statement issued by Annette Lovemore MP, DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, October 23 2011

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