Minister Motsoaledi proposes changes to Electoral Amendment Bill
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has made a proposal for at least two more changes to the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The move is part of efforts to level the playing field for independent candidates who want a seat in Parliament.
This follows another round of public submissions – this time – to the National Council of Provinces, which is considering the bill passed by the National Assembly last month.
The bill will pave the way for independent candidates to run in national and provincial elections.
In considering another round of public views on the contentious bill, the Department of Home Affairs obtained an independent legal opinion on how to treat the concerns.
Motsoaledi consequently recommended that a political party that is not represented in a legislature, obtain the same number of supporter signatures as an independent candidate.
The threshold would be at least 20% of the quota required for a seat in the previous election.
An elected independent candidate would be exempt from this requirement, in a subsequent election.
“We don’t want anybody to just wake up anywhere and say I heard independents are allowed in Parliament and I want to stand. Then we start developing a ballot paper which has a million names on it. We don’t want that. We want some form of seriousness and demonstration of tangible support,” said Motsoaledi.
On Wednesday, the select committee will take legal advice on how it can make the changes before Parliament rises for the year, and to beat the 10 December deadline for amending the law.
-EWN
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