Electoral Commission hands over lists of elected representatives to the Chief Justice of South Africa

Electoral Commission hands over lists of elected representatives to the Chief Justice of South Africa

In the final step of the National and Provincial Elections 2019, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission Mr Glen Mashinini has handed over a list of 830 elected representatives to the Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, the Chief Justice of South Africa.

The list of 400 elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and 430 elected Members of Provincial Legislatures (MPLs) was drawn from the national, regional and provincial candidate lists submitted by contesting political parties as part of the election timetable in March 2019.

In terms of 16 of Schedule 1A of the Electoral Act (Act 73 of 1998) requires that “after the counting of votes has been concluded, the number of representatives of each party has been determined and the election results have been declared in terms of section 190 of the Constitution, the Commission must, within two days after such declaration, designate from each list of candidates the representatives of each party in the legislature.” According to the Constitution, these representatives must be sworn into office by taking an oath or affirmation before the Chief Justice. The first sitting of Parliament must take place at a date and time determined by the Chief Justice but not more than 14 days after the announcement of the results of an election.

Demographic statistics for the representatives show an improvement in gender representivity from 2014 elections.

Of the 400 MPs, 45.25 percent are women compared to 42 percent in 2014. The provincial legislature with the best gender representivity is Mpumalanga where half of the Members will be women.

The provincial legislature with the lowest gender representivity is the Western Cape where just 35.71 percent of representatives are women.

The average age of our Members of Parliament is 50 years old – the same as the average age in 2014

The oldest Member of Parliament will be the Honourable leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party Dr Mangosothu Buthelezi at 90 years old. The youngest Member of Parliament will be 23-year-old Mr Sibongiseni Ngcobo of the Democratic Alliance.

The youngest member of a provincial legislature is 21-year-old Ms Karabo Khakhau who will represent the Democratic Alliance in the Free State legislature.

Table 1: Gender Representivity

Table 2: Youngest and oldest representatives

For media interviews with Electoral Commission officials please email requests to spokesperson@elections.org.za

Enquiries:
Kate Bapela 
Cell: 082 600 6386