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The Impact of Floor Crossing on Party Systems and Representative Democracy

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The Impact of Floor Crossing on Party Systems and Representative Democracy The Impact of Floor Crossing on Party Systems and Representative Democracy 15 November 2006 Vineyard Hotel, Cape Town South Africa KONRAD-ADENAUER-STIFTUNG • SEMINAR REPORT • NO 19 • JOHANNESBURG • MARCH 2007 © KAS, 2007 All rights reserved While copyright in this publication as a whole is vested in the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, copyright in the text rests with the individual authors, and no paper may be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission, in writing, of both authors and the publisher. It should be noted that any opinions expressed are the responsibility of the individual authors and that the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung does not necessarily subscribe to the opinions of contributors. ISBN: 978-0-9802543-4-1 Published by: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 60 Hume Road Dunkeld 2196 Johannesburg Republic of South Africa PO Box 1383 Houghton 2041 Johannesburg Republic of South Africa Telephone: (+27 +11) 214-2900 Telefax: (+27 +11) 214-2913/4 E-mail: [email protected] www.kas.org.za Editing, DTP and production: Tyrus Text and Design Printing: Intrepid Printers (Pty) Limited Foreword FLOOR-CROSSING LEGISLATION IN SOUTH AFRICA CAME INTO EFFECT IN 2002 AFTER A Constitutional Court ruling supporting its legality. The legislation was supported by 280 out of 324 MPs who voted – an 86% majority. However, much has changed since then: an overwhelming majority of ordinary South Africans, members of parliament (MPs) and political science experts are now opposed to floor crossing in this country. According to German political scientist Prof. Hans-Joachim Veen, floor crossing is ‘dysfunctional’ in a parliamentary system since it prevents parties in government and in opposition from acting as they should. After all, it is primarily the existence of a democratic culture with functioning parties, more than legal rules, that prevents MPs from crossing the floor. Political parties, especially the smaller parties, have lost MPs and seats as a result of floor crossing. The United Democratic Movement rejected the floor-crossing legislation from the outset as an attack on the electoral system and indeed on constitutional democracy, while the Inkatha Freedom Party rejected floor crossing, believing that it disenfranchises voters by allowing politicians to ‘reallocate’ seats as they see fit. The Democratic Alliance initially supported the legislation but has since changed its stance. According to DA leader Tony Leon, the principle of floor crossing is not wrong; the current legislation is, however, a perversion of an original mandate proposed by the DA in 2000. Floor crossing as it stands now leaves the electorate ‘out in the cold’ mainly because MPs do not consult with the electorate before deciding to defect. The system of floor crossing thus undermines participatory democracy and the accountability of politicians: on the one hand we have the MP who is substantially free and independent in his decisions and subject to his own conscious; on the other hand we have a political culture which may have a substantial influence on the political party system. At the time of going to print, the Parliamentary Committee on Private Members’ Legislative Proposals and Special Petitions was investigating the implications of floor crossing on the country’s electoral system. This seminar report is a compilation of the edited papers presented at the conference, ‘The Impact of Floor Crossing on Party Systems and Representative Democracy’, which was hosted jointly by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and EISA on 15 November 2006 in Cape Town. The first two papers discuss floor crossing by looking at the German and Brazilian examples. The second section gives regional perspectives from Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa. The presentations examine floor crossing in the respective iii iv THE IMPACT OF FLOOR CROSSING ON PARTY SYSTEMS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY countries based on: the impact of floor crossing on the party system and electoral law; the impact of floor crossing on representative democracy; challenges and lessons learnt; and policy recommendations. The last section comprises statements by the parties that participated in the political parties’ panel, namely the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Independent Democrats, African Christian Democratic Party and United Democratic Movement. It is the hope of both KAS and EISA that this publication will be a useful resource for political leaders, MPs, civil society organisations, the media and academia. Dr Werner Boehler Resident Representative Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Table of contents List of tables vii List of abbreviations ix Introduction: The setting 1 Khabele Matlosa and Victor Shale THE IMPACT OF FLOOR CROSSING ON PARTY SYSTEMS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: GLOBAL EXPERIENCE Strong party system as a condition for representative democracy 11 Hans-Joachim Veen The consequences for democracy of a weak party system: 19 Party defections in Brazil Silvana Krause THE IMPACT OF FLOOR CROSSING ON PARTY SYSTEMS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE The case of Lesotho 31 Khabele Matlosa and Victor Shale The case of Malawi 47 Samson Lembani The case of Zambia 61 Jotham C. Momba iv THE IMPACT OF FLOOR CROSSING ON PARTY SYSTEMS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY The case of South Africa 71 Dirk Kotzé THE IMPACT OF FLOOR CROSSING ON PARTY SYSTEMS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH AFRICA: VIEWS FROM POLITICAL PARTIES African National Congress 87 Official statement Democratic Alliance 93 Tony Leon Inkatha Freedom Party 97 Mangosuthu Buthelezi United Democratic Movement 101 Bantu Holomisa Independent Democrats 105 Lance Greyling African Christian Democratic Party 109 Steve Swart Comprehensive bibliography 115 Conference programme 119 Participants’ list 121 Seminar Reports 123 Occasional Paper Series 126 Other publications 132 List of tables • Number of parties in Chamber of Deputies (1982–1988) 20 • Number of parties in Chamber of Deputies (1989–1998) 20 • Number of parties in Chamber of Deputies (1999–2002) 21 • Number of parties in Chamber of Deputies (2002–2006) 21 • Changing party affiliations in Chamber of Deputies, 1983–2006 25 • General election for the Lesotho National Assembly, 1993 34 • General election for the Lesotho National Assembly, 1998 36 • General election for the Lesotho National Assembly, 2002 38 • Party representation in the Lesotho National Assembly following 39 floor crossings • Lesotho National Assembly election results and seat allocation summary, 42 February 2007 • Number of parties in Malawi general elections and seats 50 secured in parliament • Defining characteristics of the FPTP system 52 • South African National Assembly, 1999–2005 (400 members) 77 • Results of the 2003 floor crossing compared with the 1999 election 78 results in the Western Cape Province (42 members) • Results of the 2003 floor crossing compared with the 1999 election 78 results in KwaZulu-Natal Province (80 members) • Results of the 2003 floor crossing compared with the 1999 election 79 results in Gauteng Province (80 members) • Results of the 2003 floor crossing compared with the 1999 election 79 results in the Eastern Cape Province (63 members) • Floor crossing at municipal level in South Africa, 2002 80 • Gains/losses of councillors in 2002 municipal level floor crossing 80 • Effects of floor crossing in the Cape Town Metropolitan Council, 2002 81 • Percentage defections by ward and PR representatives in municipal 83 councils in South Africa, by province vii List of abbreviations ABC All Basotho Convention ACDP African Christian Democratic Party ANC African National Congress APRM African Peer Review Mechanism BCP Basutholand Congress Party BNP Basotho National Party CDU Christian Democratic Union CSU Christian Social Union Cosatu Congress of South African Trade Unions DA Democratic Alliance DP Democratic Party DPP Democratic Progressive Party ERTC Electoral Reform Technical Committee ETT Electoral Task Team FA Federal Alliance FDD Forum for Democratic Development FPTP First-past-the-post ID Independent Democrats IEC Independent Electoral Commission IFP Inkatha Freedom Party KZN KwaZulu-Natal LCD Lesotho Congress for Democracy LPC Lesotho Peoples’ Congress LWP Lesotho Workers’ Party MCP Malawi Congress Party MEC Member of the Executive Council MFP Marematlou Freedom Party Mgode Movement for Genuine Democracy MMD Movement for Multiparty Democracy MMP Mixed member proportional MP Member of parliament Nadeco National Democratic Convention NCOP National Council of Provinces NDA National Democratic Alliance NDP New Democratic Party NEC National executive committee ix x THE IMPACT OF FLOOR CROSSING ON PARTY SYSTEMS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY NGO Non-governmental organisation NIP National Independence Party NNP New National Party NPP National Progressive Party PAC Pan Africanist Congress PFD Popular Front for Democracy PR Proportional representation RP Republican Party SPD Social Democratic Party UDF United Democratic Front UDM United Democratic Movement UIF United Independent Front UNIP United National Independence Party UPND United Party for National Development ZCTU Zambia Congress of Trade Unions Introduction: The setting KHABELE MATLOSA AND VICTOR SHALE THE CONTEXT Almost all the countries that constitute the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have undergone political transition away from mono-party authoritarian governance regimes; many of them have embraced a multiparty democratic dispensation. But although most SADC countries have undergone successful
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