Floor crossing (South Africa)

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Under Floor crossing (German about "crossing the floor") refers to the possibility that deputies of Parliament to change the party and were able to keep their seat. The term is in use in some Commonwealth countries and gained a special meaning in its specific practice , especially in South Africa .

background

Floor crossing was made possible in South Africa by an amendment to the constitution in 2002. This change has its background in the wish of the Democratic Alliance (DA, at that time consisting of the Democratic Party (DP) and Nuwe Nasionale Party (NNP)) to be able to merge into a single party during the legislative period at that time, which was so far through the ban on Party-crossing during this period was excluded. The ANC initially spoke out against this legislative initiative, as it saw it as cementing a race- and class-based opposition - in this case the DA.

The following political developments caused a change of opinion at the ANC. The structure of the DA at that time proved to be short-lived. In November 2001 the NNP got out of the DA, while the DP kept the new name to itself. The NNP decided to enter into coalitions with the ANC, and the floor crossing gave the latter the opportunity to break the cementation mentioned above. In June 2002 the constitutional amendment became a reality. The rapprochement between the NNP and the ANC marked the end of the former. In the national elections of 2004 it became a nationally insignificant party with a result of 1.65% and decided to dissolve itself in the following year, combined with the transfer of most of the NNP parliamentarians to the ANC.

The small party United Democratic Movement (UDM) immediately lodged a constitutional complaint in which it alleged that the floor crossing would undermine the will of the electorate, as this would no longer be possible in a system based on proportional representation due to conversions taking place before the next election would find again. Furthermore, there is also the risk that large parties could make it more attractive for members of smaller parties to convert through better-filled posts.

Requirements for floor crossing prescribed by the constitution

The floor crossing was possible under the following conditions:

  • The offender had to be a member of the national, provincial or local parliament.
  • The transfer had to affect at least 10% of the seats of the previous party, so there might have to be several transfers at the same time.
  • The transfer had to take place between September 1st and 15th and in the second or fourth year after the election.

Effects in political events

The opponents' fears that the floor crossing could make larger parties even more powerful proved true. This was also made easier by the fact that the 10% seat minimum made it much easier for small parties to change than for larger parties. The number of seats in the ANC in the South African parliament increased from 279 to 297 after the 2004 election, following both time windows of 2005 and 2007, while the larger opposition parties lost some seats. The floor crossing made it possible for party foundations to gain seats there, for example the IFP spin-off National Democratic Convention . A number of small parties that were able to win one or two seats in the national parliament by converting during the 2005 time window disappeared again in the next time window of 2007.

Floor crossing was a sensitive issue in South Africa that was, among other things, the subject of legal proceedings. In September 2007, five IFP local politicians were arrested on charges of attempted murder of a former IFP politician who converted to the ANC.

In January 2009 the possibility of floor crossing was abolished by a constitutional amendment.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Floor crossing briefing: legislative and political background, and the procedural framework. ( Memento of December 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) “Institute for Democracy in South Africa” (IDASA). (English; PDF)
  2. ↑ iol.co.za: "Five nabbed over floor-crossing murder claims", accessed on September 28, 2007 ( Memento from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  3. ↑ Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa: South Africa: Floor-crossing 2002-2009 ( Memento of March 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)