SECRET BALLOT VOTING NOT APPLICABLE TO MOTIONS

10 NOVEMBER 2016

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip wishes to make a clarification regarding secret voting in Parliament, which opposition parties often populistically demands whenever motions of no confidence are debated. 

The Constitution of the Republic is clear that secret ballot in the House applies only in the process of electing the President, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. Elections in Parliament ordinarily happen after the general elections and are in line with our democratic electoral process which is based on secret ballot. 

Secret ballot and privacy in the electoral process guards against coercion and protects the integrity and credibility of the process. However, as soon as Parliament has elected the heads of the executive and the national legislature, and both institutions are officially operational, parliamentary business must be conducted openly and transparency unless it is justifiable in an open democracy to do otherwise. This ensures that the public is a position to hold the public representatives accountable for the decisions they make and how they make them.

Parliament is a Constitutional institution and its business is governed by the Constitution, relevant legislation and the rules of the House. Those calling for secret ballot in the ‘no confidence motion’ do not only want the institution to violate its laws and the Constitution, but they are also against the principles of openness and transparency upon which our democracy is founded.

The calls for secret voting are usually made by parties who seek to usurp the principle that public representatives, regardless of the party to which they belong, represent the mandate of their parties and the public, not their individual interests. While ANC MPs are often called upon to vote according to their individual wishes, the same is never expected of MPs of other parties in parliament.

The ANC can never associate itself with any call for Parliament to violate the laws and the constitution in the course of conducting its business.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 10 November 2016