Floor-crossing legislation tabled

2008-07-02 12:00

Cape Town - Draft legislation aimed at abolishing floor-crossing by MPs, members of provincial legislatures and municipal councillors was tabled at Parliament on Wednesday.

The two bills - the Constitution Fourteenth Amendment Bill and the Constitution Fifteenth Amendment Bill - together with the General Laws Amendment Bill have to be passed before September 1 next year, the start of the next floor-crossing window period.

The two measures aimed to abolish the right of an MP, a member of a provincial legislature or a municipal councillor "to become a member of another political party while retaining membership" of his or her house, legislature or council.

According to memoranda attached to the bills, they also aimed to "abolish the right of an existing political party to merge with another... or to subdivide into more than one political party, or to subdivide and to permit any of the subdivisions to merge with another political party", while allowing a member to retain membership of the National Assembly, provincial legislature or municipal council.

The memoranda acknowledge there is "a groundswell of resistance opposing floor-crossing".

- SAPA