DA to raise overseas voting rights with IEC

When I meet with the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Brigalia Bam, tomorrow, I will argue that South African citizens living abroad should have the opportunity to vote in elections at home, beginning with the 2009 election. The right to vote is enshrined in the Constitution; as such the IEC has a duty to give effect to the right.

Section 33(1)(e) of the Electoral Act provides for South African citizens who are temporarily abroad - for purposes of a holiday, a business trip, attending a tertiary institution, or participating in an international sports event - to vote in national and provincial elections by special vote.

The DA believes that s33(1)(e) of the Act should be extended to include South African citizens who are living abroad, many of whom intend returning.

In addition, to enable these South Africans abroad to vote, it is essential for the IEC to make provision for them to register at South African embassies and consulates. This is critical if the IEC is to fulfil its constitutional mandate.

In the case of August v The Independent Electoral Commission, the Constitutional Court noted that "universal adult suffrage on a common voters roll is one of the foundational values of our entire constitutional order". Furthermore, in this seminal judgment the Court also stated that: "The vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood" and that "Rights may not be limited without justification and legislation dealing with the franchise must be interpreted in favour of enfranchisement rather than disenfranchisement."

In most constitutional democracies, prisoners are not entitled to vote, while nationals living abroad are. In South Africa , we have the opposite situation where prisoners can vote and South Africans abroad cannot. The irony is bitter.

Section 33 of the Electoral Act already provides for certain categories of South Africans to vote by special vote. Procedures currently exist under the Electoral Regulations that allow the heads of South African missions abroad to oversee the polling of votes by diplomats and temporary South African visitors at their missions during election times. Since these procedures are already in place, and have been used in former elections, it would be possible to provide for South African citizens resident abroad to follow the same procedure and thus allow them to vote at their nearest South African mission.

There is no law that prevents South Africans living abroad from voting; the Constitutional Court has ruled that the Electoral Act must be interpreted in such a way as to promote enfranchisement; and the IEC has a positive obligation to provide opportunities for the electorate to vote. For these reasons I believe there is a strong case to be made that South Africans residing overseas should be able to vote in elections, and I will put this case to Dr Bam during our meeting tomorrow.

Statement issued by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, November 20 2008