Parliament on establishment of fourth Parliament

30 April 2009

Change to improve the lives of all South Africans can come through the
institutions that democratic South Africa has established.

This is the message from registered South African voters, 77,3% of whom
voted in the 2009 general election.

The key institution through which this change can be implemented is
Parliament and on 6 May the fourth democratic Parliament will start to
establish itself.

This is when Parliament’s National Assembly (NA) meets for the first time to
swear in its 400 new members, to elect its Presiding Officers – and to elect
the President of the Republic of South Africa.

On 7 May, Parliament’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will go through
a similar process of swearing in members and electing Presiding Officers.

Committees for both the NA and the NCOP will be established in the weeks
following the first sittings of Parliament’s two Houses. These committees are
the primary vehicles through which Parliament exercises its Constitutional
roles of law-making, oversight over government and facilitating public
participation in national issues affecting South Africa.

Following this year’s general election, 13 political parties have
representatives in Parliament’s NA.

The 2004 general election resulted in 12 political parties having
representatives in the NA. This number increased by the end of the third
democratic Parliament’s term – because of floor-crossing legislation which has
since been scrapped.

The 1999 election yielded 13 political parties with enough votes to secure
NA seats and the 1994 election resulted in seven.

A report has been prepared by Parliament’s Presiding Officers, detailing the
issues to be addressed by the fourth democratic Parliament. This was done to
ensure a smooth transition from the third democratic Parliament.

The 13 political parties in the fourth democratic Parliament and their seat
allocation in the National Assembly:

African National Congress: 264
Democratic Alliance: 67
Congress of the People: 30
Inkatha Freedom Party: 18
Freedom Front Plus: 4
Independent Democrats: 4
United Democratic Movement: 4
African Christian Democratic Party: 3
United Christian Democratic Party: 2
African People’s Convention: 1
Azanian People’s Organisation: 1
Minority Front: 1
Pan Africanist Congress of Azania: 1

For more information or inquiries, please contact:
Luzuko Jacobs (Head of the Parliamentary Communication Services)
Tel: 021 403 3635
Cell: 082 906 1438

Issued by: Parliament of South Africa
30 April 2009