Popular Attitudes Towards the South African Electoral System: Report to the Electoral Task Team¶
Roger Southall; Robert Mattes (2002). Popular Attitudes Towards the South African Electoral System: Report to the Electoral Task Team. Democracy and Governance Research Programme, Occasional Paper 1. HSRC Publishers.
| Type | report |
| Scope | Post-1994 South African economy |
| Method | survey fieldwork |
| Period studied | 1994–2004 |
| Regions | South Africa (national) |
| Themes | politics ideology elections, transition post apartheid, methods data sources |
| Citation key | southall2002 |
Argument¶
Based on a 2002 national survey commissioned by the Electoral Task Team, the authors argue that South Africans broadly approve of the national-list proportional representation (PR) system for its fairness, inclusiveness and proportionality, so there is little demand for a radical shift to first-past-the-post. They contend that approval is not consensual, is shaped by race and partisanship, and that voters also want local accountability, independent-minded MPs and grassroots control, which pure list PR does not deliver. Very few citizens contact or can name their MP, and only about one in five think legislators listen to them. They therefore recommend a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system using multi-member constituencies with closed party lists. The case rests on descriptive survey tabulations, OLS regressions and a cross-country Afrobarometer comparison.
Evidence and method¶
Face-to-face national survey of 2,760 voting-age citizens (16 July-16 August 2002) conducted by four survey firms and coordinated by the HSRC, using a stratified multi-stage cluster sample drawn from the 1996 census enumerator areas with minority strata oversampled and then weighted. It also uses an Afrobarometer survey (July-August 2000) for regional comparison, turnout figures for 1994 and 1999, and secondary political science literature.
Findings¶
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Large majorities judge the existing system satisfactory and fair. (p. 5)
Three-quarters say they are ‘satisfied’ with ‘the way we elect our government’ (74 per cent) and agree the system is ‘fair to all parties’ (72 per cent).”
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Accountability of individual representatives is the system's weakest perceived feature. (p. 6)
just 60 per cent agree and fully one-quarter (25 per cent) disagree.”
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Race is the strongest demographic determinant of views, even after controls, and whites are less satisfied than blacks. (p. 8)
the most important demographic structuring characteristic is race.
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Partisanship shapes views of the electoral system independently of race. (p. 11)
That South Africans view the current electoral system through a thick partisan lens is something that the ETT needs to take seriously.
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Most respondents want to vote for a local candidate. (p. 20)
close to three-quarters (71 per cent) said they want to vote for a candidate from the area in which they live
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Respondents favour broad representation over efficiency. (p. 26)
Six out ten (59 per cent) say that the most important purpose of Parliament is to represent all parts of society, even if it requires more time for debate
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Citizens are sceptical that legislators are responsive to them. (p. 31)
less than one in five believes that MPs ‘try their best to look after the interests of people like you’ (19 per cent)
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Contact with MPs is far lower in PR countries than in constituency systems in southern Africa. (p. 44)
The two countries with proportional representation, South Africa and Namibia (one per cent), had the lowest levels of citizen contact with national legislators.
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Main recommendation: add multi-member constituencies within an MMP framework. (p. 45)
eligible voters would favour the introduction of some form of Mixed Member Proportional system, that is, a system that maintains repre-sentivity whilst enhancing prospects for accountability.