Schedule 3 Constitution of South Africa 1996 – Election procedures

[Schedule 3 amended by s. 2 of Act No. 3 of 1999, by s. 19 of Act No. 34 of 2001, by s. 3 of Act No. 21 of 2002 and by s. 5 of the Constitution Fourteenth Amendment Act of 2008]

Part A – Election procedures for constitutional Office-bearers

Application

1. The procedure set out in this Schedule applies whenever ­

a. the National Assembly meets to elect the President, or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Assembly;

b. the National Council of Provinces meets to elect its Chairperson or a Deputy Chairperson; or

c. a provincial legislature meets to elect the Premier of the province or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the legislature.

Nominations

2. The person presiding at a meeting to which this Schedule applies must call for the nomination of candidates at the meeting.

Formal requirements

3. (1) A nomination must be made on the form prescribed by the rules mentioned in item 9.

    (2) The form on which a nomination is made must be signed ­

a. by two members of the National Assembly, if the President or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Assembly is to be elected;

b. on behalf of two provincial delegations, if the Chairperson or a Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces is to be elected; or

c. by two members of the relevant provincial legislature, if the Premier of the province or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the legislature is to be elected.

    (3) A person who is nominated must indicate acceptance of the nomination by signing either the nomination form or any other form of written confirmation.

Announcement of names of candidates

4. At a meeting to which this Schedule applies, the person presiding must announce the names of the persons who have been nominated as candidates, but may not permit any debate.

Single candidate

5. If only one candidate is nominated, the person presiding must declare that candidate elected.

Election procedure

6. If more than one candidate is nominated ­

a. a vote must be taken at the meeting by secret ballot;

b. each member present, or if it is a meeting of the National Council of Provinces, each province represented, at the meeting may cast one vote; and

c. the person presiding must declare elected the candidate who receives a majority of the votes.

Elimination procedure

7. (1) If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the candidate who receives the lowest number of votes must be eliminated and a further vote taken on the remaining candidates in accordance with item 6. This procedure must be repeated until a candidate receives a majority of the votes.

    (2) When applying subitem (1), if two or more candidates each have the lowest number of votes, a separate vote must be taken on those candidates, and repeated as often as may be necessary to determine which candidate is to be eliminated.

Further meetings

8. (1) If only two candidates are nominated, or if only two candidates remain after an elimination procedure has been applied, and those two candidates receive the same number of votes, a further meeting must be held within seven days, at a time determined by the person presiding.

    (2) If a further meeting is held in terms of subitem (1), the procedure prescribed in this Schedule must be applied at that meeting as if it were the first meeting for the election in question.

Rules

9. (1) The Chief Justice must make rules prescribing

a. the procedure for meetings to which this Schedule applies;

b. the duties of any person presiding at a meeting, and of any person assisting the person presiding;

c. the form on which nominations must be submitted; and

d. the manner in which voting is to be conducted.

    (2) These rules must be made known in the way that the Chief Justice determines.

Part B ­- Formula to Determine Party Participation in Provincial Delegations to the National Council of Provinces

1. The number of delegates in a provincial delegation to the National Council of Provinces to which a party is entitled, must be determined by multiplying the number of seats the party holds in the provincial legislature by ten and dividing the result by the number of seats in the legislature plus one.

2. If a calculation in terms of item 1 yields a surplus not absorbed by the delegates allocated to a party in terms of that item, the surplus must compete with similar surpluses accruing to any other party or parties, and any undistributed delegates in the delegation must be allocated to the party or parties in the sequence of the highest surplus.

3. If the competing surpluses envisaged in item 2 are equal, the undistributed delegates in the delegation must be allocated to the party or parties with the same surplus in the sequence from the highest to the lowest number of votes that have been recorded for those parties during the last election for the provincial legislature concerned.

[Item 3 added by s. 2 of the Constitution Fourth Amendment Act of 1999 and substituted by s. 3 of the Constitution Ninth Amendment Act of 2002 and by s. 5(a) of the Constitution Fourteenth Amendment Act of 2008.]

4. If more than one party with the same surplus recorded the same number of votes during the last election for the provincial legislature concerned, the legislature concerned must allocate the undistributed delegates in the delegation to the party or parties with the same surplus in a manner which is consistent with democracy.

[Item 4 added by s. 5(b) of the Constitution Fourteenth Amendment Act of 2008.]