THE CONSTITUTIONAL Court has declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional, opening way for independent candidates to participate in elections outside traditional political parties.
Justic Mbuyiseli Madlanga handed down the judgment on Thursday.
This comes after an application by the New National Movement, which challenged the constitutionality of the act, arguing that there was no reason why any citizen could not stand as an independent candidate to be elected to municipal councils, provincial legislatures or the National Assembly.
Currently, the act makes no provisions on which constituency an independent could represent, or how seats would be allocated in the National Assembly, should a candidate wish to run.
The Electoral Act further says that a citizen needs to be a member of a political party to hold national or provincial office, yet the Constitution makes no such demand.
“I can conceive no reason that the limitation is justified. The Electoral Act is unconstitutional the appeal must succeed,”” Madlanga said in his judgment on Thursday.
The court also ruled that the deficiency in the Act that does not provide for adult citizens to be elected to the national and provincial legislatures as independent candidates is inconsistent with the Constitution.
The judgment is suspended for 24 months for Parliament to amend the legislation.
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff)
