Those who represent us in Parliament, provincial and local legislatures should be directly answerable to the people in their communities and constituencies, and they should not only report to their political parties and elevate the interests of those parties over the interests of the people. [...] With the aforementioned in mind, civil society organisations present at the Indaba were of the view that Parliament, and the Committee in particular, must reshape the electoral system in the interest of the public, through electoral reform that is credible, fair, and inclusive, and that promotes greater public accountability and responsiveness from elected representatives. [...] In finalising the Electoral Amendment Bill, political role-players and Parliament must appreciate that the broader public will not accept cosmetic changes to the system that advances the interests of political parties over those of the electorate. [...] We therefore implore the Committee to adopt the ‘majority view’ of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on electoral reform as a minimum basis for changing the electoral system. [...] Various organisations have written to the Committee on different occasions and have made submissions to the Committee on the flawed nature of the draft Bill.
- Pages
- 5
- Published in
- South Africa
