The United Democratic Movement (UDM) has criticized President Cyril Ramaphosa for signing the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The party says the only option is for the opposition parties, which have refused to pass the bill in parliament, to pursue legal avenues to oppose the law.
UDM MP Nkabayomzi Kwankwa said despite their petitions, the president did not consider their objections before approving the bill.
“The United Democratic Movement is confident that President Cyril Ramaphosa will be able to pass the controversial Electoral Amendment Bill despite knowing the impact it will have on our constitutional democracy. We condemn this bill in the strongest possible terms.As a sister opposition party, we have petitioned the President not to sign this bill, but he has ignored our request.”
“We made it clear at the time we sent him the petition that we would seek legal recourse if he signed this bill. Now that he has signed it into law, we would like to reiterate that it intends to legally challenge it,” Kwankwa explained.
Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Mugwenya said in a message to the SABC that there is no legal obligation for the president to respond to additional petitions when considering the bill.
He added that in processing the bill, the President assessed all issues raised by political parties in Parliament and took note of the fairness and openness of the process.
IFP also said it deeply regretted that Mr Ramaphosa signed the bill.
The main purpose of this bill is to create a provision for independent candidates to receive funding from the Multiparty Democracy Fund.
However, the funding formula was also changed from the existing two-thirds proportional and one-third equitable spending to 90% proportional and 10% equitable funding for political parties in parliament.
IFP Secretary-General Narend Singh, along with other opposition benches, will brief on further developments on the issue.
“We are completely disappointed that the president's office did not have the decency to even respond to our petition, even though 10 opposition parties submitted a constitutional petition for the president to consider. There is.”
“We even had to see in the media that this bill was signed into law. We are now urgently seeking legal advice on how to proceed. But we also , I would like to see this declaration and know how the President declared this as law and what are the conditions,” Singh added.
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