2005 South African floor-crossing window period

The 2005 floor crossing window period in South Africa was a period of 15 days, from 1 to 15 September 2005, in which members of the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures were able to cross the floor from one political party to another without giving up their seats. The period was authorised by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa,[1] which scheduled regular window periods in the second and fourth September after each election. The previous general election had been held on 14 April 2004.

In the National Assembly, the floor-crossing expanded the African National Congress' (ANC) representation from 279 to 293 seats, giving it control of almost three-quarters of the 400-member house. Other existing parties mainly lost seats, with several entirely new parties being created; still-existing parties created in 2005 include the National Democratic Convention

Seven of the nine provincial legislatures were also affected, with only the Free State and North West legislatures remaining unchanged. In both the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature and the Western Cape Provincial Parliament the ANC received enough members to move from a plurality to an absolute majority; in KwaZulu-Natal it gained two members to control 40 of the 80 seats, while in the Western Cape it gained five, to give it 24 of the 42 seats.

This window period also saw the final demise of the New National Party, in which all its members crossed the floor, mostly to become ANC representatives.

The tables below show all the changes; in those provinces not listed there was no change in the provincial legislature.

Tables

National Assembly
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[2]
ANC 279 +14 293
Democratic Alliance 50 −3 47
IFP 28 −5 23
UDM 9 −3 6
Independent Democrats 7 −2 5
ACDP 7 −3 4
Freedom Front Plus 4 0 4
National Democratic Convention[note 1] +4 4
Pan Africanist Congress 3 0 3
United Christian Democratic Party 3 0 3
Minority Front 2 0 2
United Independent Front[note 1] +2 2
Azanian People's Organisation 1 0 1
Federation of Democrats[note 1] +1 1
Progressive Independent Movement[note 1] +1 1
United Party[note 1] +1 1
NNP[note 2] 7 −7
Total 400

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 51 0 51
Democratic Alliance 5 0 5
UDM 6 −2 4
United Independent Front[note 1] +2 2
Pan Africanist Congress 1 0 1
Total 63

Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 51 0 51
Democratic Alliance 15 −3 12
IFP 2 0 2
Federal Alliance 0 +2 2
ACDP 1 0 1
Freedom Front Plus 1 0 1
Independent Democrats 1 0 1
Pan Africanist Congress 1 0 1
Alliance of Free Democrats[note 1] +1 1
United Independent Front[note 1] +1 1
UDM 1 −1 0
Total 73

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 38 +2 40
IFP 30 −3 27
Democratic Alliance 7 −2 5
National Democratic Convention[note 1] +4 4
Minority Front 2 0 2
ACDP 2 −1 1
UDM 1 0 1
Total 80

Limpopo Provincial Legislature
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 45 0 45
Democratic Alliance 2 0 2
ACDP 1 0 1
United Independent Front[note 1] +1 1
UDM 1 −1 0
Total 49

Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 27 0 27
Democratic Alliance 2 0 2
Christian Party[note 1] +1 1
Freedom Front Plus 1 −1 0
Total 30

Northern Cape Provincial Parliament
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 21 +3 24
Democratic Alliance 3 0 3
Independent Democrats 2 −1 1
ACDP 1 0 1
Freedom Front Plus 1 0 1
NNP[note 2] 2 −2
Total 30

Western Cape Provincial Parliament
Party Seats before Net change Seats after[3]
ANC 19 +5 24
Democratic Alliance 12 +1 13
ACDP 2 0 2
United Independent Front[note 1] +2 2
Independent Democrats 3 −2 1
UDM 1 −1 0
NNP[note 2] 5 −5
Total 42

National Council of Provinces

The National Council of Provinces was reconstituted as a result of the changes in the provincial legislatures. Its reconstituted makeup was as follows:[4]

Party Delegate type EC FS G KZN L M NW NC WC Total
ANC Permanent 4 4 4 3 5 5 4 4 3 36 68
Special 4 4 3 2 4 4 4 4 3 32
Democratic Alliance Permanent 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 10 12
Special 1 1 2
IFP Permanent 1 2 3 4
Special 1 1
Independent Democrats Permanent 1 1
Freedom Front Plus Permanent 1 1
United Christian Democratic Party Permanent 1 1
UDM Permanent 1 1
United Independent Front[note 1] Permanent 1 1
National Democratic Convention[note 1] Special 1 1
Total 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 90

Notes to the tables
  1. Party created during this floor-crossing period.
  2. The New National Party officially dissolved itself during this floor-crossing period, with most of its representatives becoming African National Congress representatives.

See also

References
  1. Constitution Tenth Amendment Act of 2003
  2. "Political Parties in National Assembly". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  3. John Kane-Berman; et al. (2008). South Africa Survey 2007/08. South African Institute of Race Relations. p. 649.
  4. John Kane-Berman; et al. (2008). South Africa Survey 2007/08. South African Institute of Race Relations. p. 647.
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