KwaZulu-Natal Legislature

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature
5th Legislature
Type
Type
Leadership
Speaker
Deputy Speaker
Mtholephi Mthimkhulu, African National Congress
Structure
Seats 80
Political groups
  National Freedom Party (6)

Economic Freedom Fighters(2)
Minority Front(1)

Elections
Party-list proportional representation
Last election
22 April 2009
Meeting place
239 Langalibalele Street, Pietermaritzburg
Website
kznlegislature.gov.za

The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is unicameral in its composition, and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the members of the leading party or coalition in the parliament.

Election

The provincial legislature consists of 80 members, who are elected through a system of party list proportional representation with closed lists. In other words, each voter casts a vote for one political party, and seats in the legislature are allocated to the parties in proportion to the number of votes received. The seats are then filled by members in accordance with lists submitted by the parties before the election.

The legislature is elected for a term of five years, unless it is dissolved early. This may occur if the legislature votes to dissolve and it is at least three years since the last election, or if the Premiership falls vacant and the legislature fails to elect a new Premier within ninety days. By convention all nine provincial legislatures and the National Assembly are elected on the same day.

The most recent election was held on 7 May 2014. The following table summarises the results.

Party Votes Vote % Seats
African National Congress 2,475,041 64.52 52
Democratic Alliance 489,430 12.76 10
Inkatha Freedom Party 416,496 10.86 9
National Freedom Party 280,425 7.31 6
Economic Freedom Fighters 70,823 1.85 2
Minority Front 38,960 1.02 1
Other parties 64,834 1.68 0
Total 3,836,009 100 80

The following table shows the composition of the legislature after past elections and floor-crossing periods.

Event Date ANC IFP DP / DA NP / NNP MF ACDP UDM Others
1994 election 27 April 1994 26 41 2 9 1 1 1
1999 election 2 June 1999 32 34 7 3 2 1 1 0
2003 floor-crossing 4 April 2003 35 32 6 2 2 1 1 1
2004 election 14 April 2004 38 30 7 0 2 2 1 0
2005 floor-crossing 15 September 2005 40 27 5 2 1 1 4
2007 floor-crossing 15 September 2007 41 27 5 2 1 1 3
2009 election 22 April 2009 51 18 7 2 1 0 1

Officers

The Speaker of the Legislature is Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni and the Deputy Speaker Mtholephi Emmanuel Mthimkhulu; they are both members of the African National Congress. The following people have served as Speaker:

Name Entered Office Left Office Party
Inkosi Bonga Mdletshe[1] 1994 2004 IFP
Willies Mchunu May 2004 2009 ANC
N.P. Nkonyeni May 6, 2009 Present ANC

References

  1. Speaker Mdletshe was re-elected on June 18, 1999

External links

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