Aspiring politicians need to gain only 0.25% of the votes cast on election day to secure a seat and the perks attached to that seat.
There are two major reasons why voters will collect an extra-large ballot paper on Wednesday and need to search through 48 parties to find their preferred choice.
The operative phrase is the number of votes cast on voting day, with a low voting turnout usually benefitting smaller, more radical parties. The Electoral Commission of South Africa announced last month that a total of 26.74 million people had registered to vote in the election, commenting that more than 15 million citizens who are of voting age and eligible to vote are not registered.
Assuming 18.7 million people cast their votes, the 0.25% needed by a candidate to score a seat in parliament amounts to 46 790. Strong, emotional arguments that motivate people to go and make their mark on the ballot paper have been successful worldwide – from Europe, where right-wing political groups have made gains, to the UK’s Brexit vote that took so many by surprise. The results show that when voters are passionate enough about their views, they are passionate enough to turn out at polling stations to make a difference at the expense of their more moderate and relaxed adversaries.
Of the 29 political parties that contested the 2014 national election, 13 won enough support to get seats in parliament. The smallest, the African People’s Convention and the Pan Africanist Congress, got a single seat each.The salaries and perks are akin to winning a lottery. A member of parliament earns a basic salary of R1.1 million per annum or R91 000 per month. That’s a cool R5.5 million over a five-year term.
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