Parliament has passed Electoral Amendment Bill

PHUTI MOSOMANE

The National Assembly (NA) has passed the Electoral Amendment Bill and adopted the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs along with amendments proposed by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

The Bill was approved by the National Assembly on 20 October 2022, and referred to the NCOP for further consideration and concurrence. The NCOP also approved it with further proposed amendments, and returned it to the NA on 29 November 2022 for further processing.

The NCOP’s proposed amendments to the Bill included an amendment to clause 3 by proposing the inclusion of a further paragraph to section 27 of the Electoral Act, 1998, to address the disparity between party candidates and independent candidates as the Bill currently only requires independent candidates to produce signatures supporting their candidature totaling 20% of the quota for a seat in the previous comparable election.

The proposed amendment to this section