Parliament has been given more time by the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to work on the Electoral Amendment Bill.
Although it had asked for an extension until 28 February next year to allow for additional public participation, Parliament was given until the end of January to complete its work.
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In its judgment delivered on Friday, the ConCourt extended its declaration of invalidity order deadline for the Electoral Act to 31 January.
The apex court’s final determination on the extension, however, will be given after considering input from the New Nation Movement (NNM) and Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), among others.
The respondents have to file answering affidavits by 19 December.
New amendments
Parliament lodged its urgent application on Tuesday for the further extension, saying no one would be prejudice by the extension since the IEC would still have sufficient time to prepare for the 2024 elections.
The previous deadline was 10 December.
The request for the extension came after National Council of Provinces (NCOP) made substantive changes to the bill.
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NCOP’s Select Committee on Security and Justice proposed new amendments including a clause for the establishment of electoral reform panel as well as changes to the seat calculation formulas and signature support requirements.
After the bill was sent back to the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, it was agreed that further public comment was required on these amendments.
The bill has to be signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa before the new deadline after the National Assembly adopts the draft legislation with the new amendments.
Legal action
The Independent Candidate Association (ICA) is planning to challenge the bill after it’s been enacted.
ICA founder Dr Michael Louis confirmed this week that the organisation intend to approach the ConCourt with an application for direct access and suggestions for fixing the bill.
“We already have five other civil society organisations receiving the necessary mandates to act as co-applicants. This process will take a minimum of six months, and with the expected date for Parliament to pass the bill in March, we expect judgment to be no earlier than October 2023,” he said in an opinion piece published on BizNews.
The litigation could see the 2024 elections pushed back by few months since the IEC needs 18 months to prepare for the polls.
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“With an extended election time, according to the Constitution the latest we could have a election is in August 2024,” Louis added.
Several civil society organisations have previously argued that the bill does not go far enough in allowing for a mixed electoral system, that makes provision for both a single-member constituency and a proportional representation (PR) system in order for voters to hold politicians accountable.
The organisations have argued that the bill was unfair and will put the upcoming elections at risk if it is not changed.
The bill was introduced in February 2022 to amend the Electoral Act, which was found unconstitutional, to allow independent candidates to contest elections.
