Eighteen political parties are represented in the Seventh Democratic Assembly, four more than the 18 in the previous Assembly, seven of which are new to the National Assembly.
Fifty-two political parties and six independent candidates ran in the national elections.
The parliamentary administration has been working since last year to prepare for the new parliament, but what does the increase in political parties in parliament mean for democracy and the administration of parliament?
“The problem is that the notion of political pluralism creates space for division because currently we have a shopping list of parties and there are too many parties. But some people think that diversity of parties is a way to make a democracy thrive because it means there are diverse opinions,” says Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast, from Nelson Mandela University's Department of History and Political Science.
“The key thing that I'm really interested in and would like to see with new parties is that we have new people, new people coming into the political system or who have never been involved in politics before, who could have a positive impact on our politics, and we need more people to gain experience in the political system,” said political analyst Assanda Ngoashene.
Meanwhile, the changes in Parliament are not just political. There is work to be done from an administrative point of view as well. Parliament has said that an increase in political representation is meaningless as the number of seats in Parliament is still only 400. Therefore, allocation of offices, allocation of housing etc. is not an issue.
“But of course, there will be some changes here and there due to the seating arrangement in parliament because now there are new parties in parliament. Of course, in terms of allocation of speaking time, the principle will be the same and we will follow proportional representation. In terms of allocation of members to committees, we will follow the same system. We will just make small amendments to ensure that it truly reflects the will and vote of the people who elected these parties to parliament,” parliamentary spokesman Moloto Motapo said.
Motapo said preparations for the seventh term had already begun last year with the cooperation of party leaders, MPs, House Whips and Speakers of Parliament.
He says they all played an important role in preparing the council to welcome new members.