Electoral system for national legislature

ACE Project, South Africa: Electoral Act 73 (1998), accessed 26 August 2024

Schedule 1A, Section 2

2 The seats in the National Assembly must be filled as follows:

(a)  One half of the seats from regional lists, submitted by the respective parties, with a fixed number of seats reserved for each region, as determined by the Commission, for every election of the Assembly, taking into account available scientifically based data in respect of voters and representations by interested parties.

(b)  The other half of the seats from national lists submitted by the respective parties, or from regional lists where national lists were not submitted. 

In 1994, South Africa employed a single-tier electoral system, where the outcome was determined solely by the national vote. The introduction of a two-tier system came with the passage of the 1998 Electoral Act.