South Africa Constitution MPV Sections

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

The folks in South Africa have adopted a constitution using majority
preference voting to elect various officers. See Schedule 3, Part A, Sec. 7.
One can only hope they do not have a crisis if a compromise candidate is
eliminated due to MPV.

Note also that the voters are not directly able to vote for such officers
(thus there will be various political conspiracies in picking such officers
in the various legislative bodies).

For the entire constitution process, see
http://www.constitution.org.za/
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Excerpts from Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1996
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Executive authority of the Republic
85. (1) The executive power of the Republic is vested in the President.
(2) The President exercises the executive power, together with the other
members of the Cabinet, by -
(a) implementing national legislation unless the Constitution or an Act of
Parliament provides otherwise;
(b) developing and implementing national policy;
(c) co-ordinating the functions of state departments and administrations;
(d) preparing and initiating legislation; and
(e) performing any other executive function provided for in the Constitution
or in national legislation.

Election of President
86. (1) At its first sitting after its election, and whenever necessary to
fill a vacancy, the National Assembly must elect a woman or a man from among
its members to be President.
(2) The President of the Constitutional Court must preside over the election
of the President, or designate another judge to do so. The procedure set out
in Schedule 3 applies to the election of the President.
(3) An election to fill a vacancy in the office of President must be held at
a time and on a date determined by the President of the Constitutional Court,
but not more than 30 days after the vacancy occurs.
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Election of Premiers
128. (1) At its first sitting after its election, and whenever necessary to
fill a vacancy, a provincial legislature must elect a woman or a man from
among its members to be the Premier of the province.
(2) A judge designated by the President of the Constitutional Court must
preside over the election of the Premier. The procedure set out in Schedule 3
applies to the election of the Premier.
(3) An election to fill a vacancy in the office of Premier must be held at a
time and on a date determined by the President of the Constitutional Court,
but not later than 30 days after the vacancy occurs.
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Schedule 3
Election Procedures
Part A - Election Procedures for Constitutional Office-Bearers
Application
1. The procedure set out in this Schedule applies whenever -
(a) the National Assembly meets to elect the President, or the Speaker or
Deputy Speaker of the Assembly;
(b) the National Council of Provinces meets to elect its Chairperson or a
Deputy Chairperson; or
(c) a provincial legislature meets to elect the Premier of the province or
the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the legislature.

Nominations
2. The person presiding at a meeting to which this Schedule applies must call
for the nomination of candidates at the meeting.

Formal requirements
3. (1) A nomination must be made on the form prescribed by the rules
mentioned in item 9.
(2) The form on which a nomination is made must be signed -
(a) by two members of the National Assembly, if the President or the Speaker
or Deputy Speaker of the Assembly is to be elected;
(b) on behalf of two provincial delegations, if the Chairperson or a Deputy
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces is to be elected; or
(c) by two members of the relevant provincial legislature, if the Premier of
the province or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the legislature is to be
elected.
(3) A person who is nominated must indicate acceptance of the nomination by
signing either the nomination form or any other form of written confirmation.

Announcement of names of candidates
4. At a meeting to which this Schedule applies, the person presiding must
announce the names of the persons who have been nominated as candidates, but
may not permit any debate.

Single candidate
5. If only one candidate is nominated, the person presiding must declare that
candidate elected.

Election procedure
6. If more than one candidate is nominated -
(a) a vote must be taken at the meeting by secret ballot;
(b) each member present, or if it is a meeting of the National Council of
Provinces, each province represented, at the meeting may cast one vote; and
(c) the person presiding must declare elected the candidate who receives a
majority of the votes.

Elimination procedure
7. (1) If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the candidate who
receives the lowest number of votes must be eliminated and a further vote
taken on the remaining candidates in accordance with item 6. This procedure
must be repeated until a candidate receives a majority of the votes.
(2) When applying subitem (1), if two or more candidates each have the lowest
number of votes, a separate vote must be taken on those candidates, and
repeated as often as may be necessary to determine which candidate is to be
eliminated.

Further meetings
8. (1) If only two candidates are nominated, or if only two candidates remain
after an elimination procedure has been applied, and those two candidates
receive the same number of votes, a further meeting must be held within seven
days, at a time determined by the person presiding.
(2) If a further meeting is held in terms of subitem (1), the procedure
prescribed in this Schedule must be applied at that meeting as if it were the
first meeting for the election in question.

Rules
9. (1) The President of the Constitutional Court must make rules prescribing
-
(a) the procedure for meetings to which this Schedule applies;
(b) the duties of any person presiding at a meeting, and any person assisting
the person presiding;
(c) the form on which nominations must be submitted; and
(d) the manner in which voting is to be conducted.
(2) These rules must be made known in the way that the President of the
Constitutional Court determines.