South Africa has an elected parliament, known as the National Assembly. The country has 400 members of parliament (MPs), who are elected under a system of mixed-member proportional representation. This means that we elect MPs by both “first past the post” and proportional representation to ensure that they represent each region in parliament—at least once every three years.
Total membership
The total membership of the National Assembly (NA) is 400. It comprises 350 members elected through a proportional representation electoral system and 50 members who are nominated by each of nine parties with seats in the NA. The nomination of these additional MPs is based on party representation in provincial legislatures.
Term length
The term length for a Member of Parliament is five years. This means that once you are elected, your term will last until the next election takes place, which must happen within 24 months of the previous election. If a general election does not take place within this period, then a by-election must be called to fill any vacancy in your seat.
The start date for your term depends on when you are sworn into office by taking the oath of allegiance before Parliament and the State President (when you become an MP). The first sitting after elections usually takes place around two weeks later—so expect to be sworn into office sometime between mid-May and early June every year.
Electoral system
The electoral system is proportional representation. The voting age is 18 years. Voters must be citizens and registered on the voters’ roll to vote in South Africa’s elections.
Voting and registration
Registering to vote is easy. You must be 18 years old, a citizen of South Africa and registered on the voters’ roll to be eligible. If you’re not yet registered, contact your local municipal office for more information about how to register.
You can apply for registration before the election date, but it’s best if you do so well before election day. To register on the day of an election or even after voting has begun, a voter must appear in person at their voting station (or another polling station if they cannot travel).
Members of the South African National Assembly
There are 400 members in the South African National Assembly. They reduced this number from 500 in 1994 when South Africa became a democracy and ended apartheid.
The number of seats is determined by population, with each province having a minimum of 8 seats and a maximum of 110—the most populated province, Gauteng (including Johannesburg and Pretoria), has 80 seats. The remaining 60 seats are divided up among all other provinces proportional to their populations.
The number of seats is also divided up among political parties based on how many votes they received during national elections, but this percentage may change every election cycle as more people vote for new parties or old ones split into smaller factions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are 400 members of the South African National Assembly. The electoral system is a proportional representation with no threshold and party list voting. The term length is five years after which the country holds a new election within 30 days of the end of the term. Members of parliament can serve up to two consecutive terms before retiring from politics for good!
