- The ANC and DA have called for electoral thresholds, so parties with less than 1% of support are not allocated seats in councils and legislatures.
- Smaller parties hit back, saying it was unfair and possibly unconstitutional.
- If thresholds had to be immediately implemented, eight of the 14 parties in Parliament would not be allocated seats.
If the ANC and the DA's push to amend the Constitution to allow for electoral thresholds, in which only parties with more than 1% of the vote are given seats in legislatures, eight of the 14 parties represented in Parliament would have no representation.
The national dialogue on coalition governments, hosted by Deputy President Paul Mashatile last Friday and Saturday, heard vehement debate about whether South Africa's electoral system should introduce electoral thresholds.
It means the bar will be raised for parties contesting the election to gain a minimum of 1% of the vote to be considered for a seat in Parliament, provincial legislatures and municipal councils.
There are currently 14 parties represented in Parliament, of which eight parties have less than 1% of the total votes cast in 2019.
If the ANC and the DA get their way, the ACDP, UDM, ATM, GOOD, NFP, AIC, Cope, PAC and Al-Jama-ah would not have any MPs in Parliament. They currently, cumulatively, make up 18 of the 400 seats in Parliament.
If this law had to be effected immediately, it would mean the ANC, DA, EFF, IFP and Freedom Front Plus would be the only parties represented in Parliament.
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According to the DA's Siviwe Gwarube, electoral thresholds are a requirement worldwide.
Austria has a 4% threshold, along with Sweden, Norway and the Czech Republic.
Germany, Wales, New Zealand, Mozambique and Rwanda have 5% thresholds.
Turkey has a 7% threshold for seats in the legislature.
Gwarube argued that the Constitution only required general proportional representation.
She said the DA believed parties should obtain at least 1% of support from the electorate to be awarded seats in Parliament.
"Large parties result in more reliable coalition partners," she told the dialogue last Friday at the University of the Western Cape.
This was supported by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who said:
A threshold should be introduced, so that there is a degree of legitimacy with regard to what amount of electoral support qualifies a party or candidate to be part of councils and coalition governments.
But smaller political parties, many of whom may fall victim to this change, have vehemently opposed it.
Opposition parties, like UDM, Cope, ATM and GOOD, have come out vehemently against the introduction of electoral thresholds.
Many argued that it would be unconstitutional.
The IEC's Mosotho Moepya reminded delegates that the law already considered thresholds.
"It is a matter of increasing these thresholds (up for debate)," he said.
The DA and the ANC said coalitions in local government had shown that small parties, with far less than 1% of support among the electorate, become kingmakers in how governments are formed.
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The ANC wants to take it even further, to ensure the party with the most votes should be the one who fronts a mayor, premier or president in a coalition government.
They further argued that positions in coalition governments should be allocated on a proportional system.
For now, it is the two largest parties who seem to have found common ground - and have the numbers in Parliament to push through this reform.
They will have to convince society the move would be good for democracy, regardless of what smaller party leaders say.
