DA to fight for every South African citizen’s right to vote

Note to editors: the following statement was distributed at a press conference in Parliament today hosted by the Chairperson of the DA Federal Executive, James Selfe MP, DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Manny de Freitas MP, and the DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Masizole Mnqasela MP. The court application can be found here. Yesterday, the DA and nine other applicants filed papers in the Western Cape High Court to allow South Africans living abroad to register and vote overseas. Although this matter of overseas voters has already been ruled on in the Constitutional Court, the DA seeks to take it a step further by ensuring that all South Africans have the right to vote both nationally and provincially. The Constitutional Court found in Richter v Minister of Home Affairs and Others 2009 that the Electoral Act and its regulations were unconstitutional and invalid as they prevented South Africans living overseas at the time of the elections from voting in the national elections. Richter established the principle, and our application is to take it to its logical conclusion by allowing South Africans abroad to register and vote for both the national and provincial elections. Our court application requests the following: • South Africans to be able to vote on the National and Provincial Ballot; • South Africans being able to register abroad; and • Voting stations be made available in locations where there are no embassies or consulates, but where substantial numbers of South Africans reside. The DA has already attempted to remedy this through a Private Member’s Bill submitted by myself earlier this year which was rejected by Parliament. The PMB sought to provide for the following: • Allow eligible voters to register at embassies or consulates; • Allow overseas voters to vote both for the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures; and • Require the IEC to establish special temporary voting stations where more than 500 special voting applications have been received. The Department of Home Affairs, however, does have to give effect to the ruling in Richter and for this reason it has tabled the Electoral Amendment Bill which is before the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. As it stands, the Bill seeks to provide South Africans abroad with the opportunity to vote whilst outside South Africa but will only allow them to vote for the national ballot, and will only allow them to register in a ‘national segment’ of the voters’ roll. The DA is of the opinion that the Electoral Amendment Bill may be unconstitutional in this respect as it is a limitation of the right to vote, for the following reason. When we vote, the Constitution provides for both a regional and a national list. All South Africans have the right to vote for both lists and this contributes to the make up of the National Assembly. The regional list populates the National Assembly first and then this is topped up by the national list. As it stands, the IEC’s Bill will only allow for overseas voters to vote for the national list and not the regional list. By doing this, the Bill would also effectively rule out having a constituency-based system. It will also not provide for overseas voters to vote for the provincial legislature. The Act already allows certain categories of South Africans living abroad or outside their province, namely public servants, to register as voters and to vote in provincial elections. This right should be extended to all South Africans otherwise it effectively creates a situation of some being more equal than others. Logistically, this is in fact quite simple and so the DA does not see any logistical or administrative problems in allowing South Africans abroad to vote both for the NA and the Provincial Legislatures. All that will be required is for the IEC to provide overseas voters with two ballot papers instead of one. In terms of counting those votes towards the provincial list, they can follow the exact same procedure as is already done for government officials abroad. Although we agree that the integrity of the voters’ roll is fundamental to credible elections, so is providing every citizen with the full right to vote. The third aspect which the DA is requesting is that where there are sufficient South Africans who wish to vote in the elections in a certain area, that a special voting station is established. At present, overseas voters can only vote at embassies or consulates which might be a great distance from where they are resident and will prevent them from voting. The DA believes that this matter should be dealt with urgently as the next elections are approximately 8 months away and the first voter registration weekend is as soon as November this year. If we are successful in this application, this will require certain logistical arrangements to be made by the IEC in order to allow South Africans abroad to register and vote. It is essential that all South Africans, even those living abroad, can fulfil their right as citizens to vote. We hope that our application is successful as it will go a long way to ensuring that this right is guaranteed for all.