Time for meaningful electoral reform is now – IRR

The window for meaningful electoral reform is shrinking and those leading the process should not let this opportunity slip. So says the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), which last week released a report on electoral reform.

The report, Electoral reform - time to do it properly, offers a number of recommendations.

Says Marius Roodt, IRR analyst and writer, and author of the report: “The Electoral Reform Consultation Panel is due to submit its recommendations to Parliament at the end of next month. It will be a travesty if the Panel doesn’t take this opportunity to reform our electoral system in a meaningful way.”

Roodt says that the IRR report provides a number of proposals about which electoral system South Africa should implement in the future.

“Our primary recommendation is that some form of mixed system – where some MPs are elected from geographical constituencies and some are elected from party lists to ensure proportionality – be used at national level in South Africa. It is the system used in countries like New Zealand and Germany and is the system we use at municipal level in South Africa, so it is a system that voters will be familiar with,” says Roodt.

“It keeps the element of proportionality in our electoral system – which is a constitutional requirement – while also ensuring that at least some MPs will be elected by communities. That has been one of the primary failings of the current electoral system − there is no real link between voters and who represents them in Parliament.”

Roodt acknowledges that this will not be a silver bullet but it will go some way to ensuring that there is more responsiveness and accountability in our political process.

“A number of surveys, from the IRR and elsewhere, have shown that South Africans want to be able to directly elect who represents them in Parliament. We now have the opportunity as a country to make this a reality but the window for this opportunity is small. If we do not seize the nettle of reform now it is unlikely that there will be any meaningful electoral reform in the next few decades,” says Roodt.

“At the end of the day it is up to voters to ensure that they vote for candidates and parties that take their duties seriously. Voters also have a responsibility on voting day – not just to vote but also to ensure that they vote for candidates who have the best interests of this country at heart, and electoral reform is only part of that. Democracy is not just about voting every five years, it’s also about pressuring those who represent us to do their job properly.”

Roodt concludes: “Electoral reform is only one part of ensuring that we have representatives who are accountable and responsive and take their duties seriously. Much of the responsibility lies with voters.”

Media contact: Marius Roodt Head of Campaigns Tel: 082 779 7035 Email: marius@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za