Seat lab · Electoral Act 73 of 1998, Schedule 1A
Three ballots,
two halves.
On 29 May 2024 a voter at their registered voting station received three ballots: a national ballot for the 200 compensatory seats of the National Assembly, a regional ballot for the 200 seats of their province, and a provincial ballot for their provincial legislature. Independent candidates could stand for the first time, on the regional and provincial ballots only. Below: the Electoral Commission's 2024 figures, the law step by step, and a lab to change the rules.
The 2024 National Assembly
200 regional seats,
200 from the national lists.
This 3D view needs WebGL. The table below has the same seats.
2024: 200 regional seats (columns over the provinces, won on the regional ballots) + 200 compensatory seats (lighter blocks, from the national lists) · IEC seat calculation
| Party | Regional | Compensatory | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANC | 86 | 73 | 159 |
| DA | 45 | 42 | 87 |
| MK | 27 | 31 | 58 |
| EFF | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| IFP | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| PA | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| ActionSA | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| VF+ | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| UDM | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| ACDP | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| NCC | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Rise | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Al Jama-ah | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| ATM | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| BOSA | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| GOOD | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| PAC | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| UAT | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The three ballots of 2024
One election,
three counts.
- 1 · National ballot · 200 compensatory seats
Parties only, the same paper in the whole country and the only ballot for voters abroad. 16 078 093 valid votes; ANC 40,2%, DA 21,8%, MK 14,6%. It decides each party's overall size, together with the regional ballots.
- 2 · Regional ballot · 200 regional seats
One per province (the nine "regions" of Schedule 1A), with parties and independent candidates standing there. The IEC fixed the seats per region in advance from voter data: Gauteng 47, KwaZulu-Natal 41, Eastern Cape 25, Western Cape 24, Limpopo 20, Mpumalanga 15, North West 13, Free State 10, Northern Cape 5.
- 3 · Provincial ballot · 487 seats in nine legislatures
Each provincial legislature is elected on its own, from 30 members (Free State, Northern Cape) to 80 (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal). The legislatures then elect their premiers and send delegates to the National Council of Provinces.
Change the rules
The 2024 votes,
other laws.
— seats for the largest party · 201 for a majority
- Parties with seats
- —
- GNU parties (2024)
- —
- Gallagher index
- —
- Votes left unrepresented
- —
| Party | National ballot | Regional | Comp. | Seats | vs 2024 |
|---|
Votes: the IEC's voting-district result files (generated 06 Jun 2024 03:28:34 PM). With the law as it is the lab reproduces the IEC's seat calculation exactly, party by party and region by region. "Regions only" shares 400 seats among the provinces in the same proportions as the 200 regional seats, with no national top-up; "one national list" is close to the one-ballot system of 1994–2019.
Schedule 1A, step by step · 2024
From two ballots
to 400 seats.
- 1 · Regional quotas (item 5(a)–(b))
In each region the valid votes on the regional ballot are divided by the region's seats plus one; the result plus one, fractions dropped, is the quota (a Droop quota). Each party or independent wins one seat per whole quota, and the seats left over go to the highest surpluses of votes.
Region Seats Valid votes Quota Won Eastern Cape 25 1 792 152 68 929 ANC 16DA 4EFF 3UDM 1PA 1 Free State 10 825 282 75 026 ANC 6DA 2EFF 2 Gauteng 47 3 935 184 81 984 ANC 17DA 13EFF 6MK 5ActionSA 2VF+ 1PA 1Rise 1IFP 1 KwaZulu-Natal 41 3 505 131 83 456 MK 19IFP 8ANC 7DA 6EFF 1 Limpopo 20 1 415 116 67 387 ANC 16EFF 3DA 1 Mpumalanga 15 1 142 946 71 435 ANC 8MK 3EFF 2DA 2 North West 13 885 084 63 221 ANC 8EFF 3DA 2 Northern Cape 5 395 275 65 880 ANC 3DA 1EFF 1 Western Cape 24 1 962 930 78 518 DA 14ANC 5PA 2EFF 1NCC 1VF+ 1 - 2 · Independents (items 5(f)–(g), 7)
An independent can win at most one seat, and only in one region (the one where their share was highest); any further seat is forfeited and the region is recounted without them. In 2024 the independents on the regional ballots took 19 304 votes between them — the IEC's results files add them up as one "Independent" line per region — far below any regional quota. None was elected.
- 3 · The overall quota (item 6(a))
Party votes on both ballots are added: 31 917 889. Divided by 400 + 1, minus the seats won by independents (none), plus one: 79 596 votes per seat. That is 0,25% of the votes cast for parties — which is why South Africa has no threshold in practice: GOOD, the smallest party seated, won with 65 814 votes over the two ballots.
- 4 · Whole quotas and surpluses (item 6(b)–(c))
Whole quotas give out 384 seats. The remaining 16 go to the largest surpluses — at most five that way, then by the highest average of votes per seat already won (11 seats in 2024). The five largest surpluses: PAC, UAT, GOOD, EFF, Rise. By highest average: MK, IFP, PA, VF+, ActionSA, ACDP, UDM, BOSA, ATM, Al Jama-ah, NCC.
- 5 · Compensation (item 6(d))
Each party's regional seats are subtracted from its overall total; the difference comes from its national list. The ANC won 86 regional seats and 159 in all, so 73 came from its national list. Parties that won no regional seat — ACDP, BOSA, ATM, Al Jama-ah, PAC, UAT, GOOD — sit entirely on compensatory seats.
The result · IEC seat calculation, 2024
Eighteen parties,
no majority.
| Party | National ballot | Regional ballots | Regional seats | Compensatory | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African National Congress GNU | 6 459 692 | 6 239 067 | 86 | 73 | 159 |
| Democratic Alliance GNU | 3 506 864 | 3 454 497 | 45 | 42 | 87 |
| uMkhonto weSizwe Party | 2 344 311 | 2 240 553 | 27 | 31 | 58 |
| Economic Freedom Fighters | 1 529 963 | 1 560 057 | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| Inkatha Freedom Party GNU | 618 209 | 688 879 | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| Patriotic Alliance GNU | 330 425 | 347 294 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Freedom Front Plus GNU | 219 053 | 236 604 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| ActionSA | 192 372 | 220 867 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| African Christian Democratic Party | 96 578 | 93 882 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| United Democratic Movement GNU | 78 446 | 85 764 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Rise Mzansi GNU | 67 979 | 70 549 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Build One South Africa | 65 923 | 69 490 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| African Transformation Movement | 63 554 | 66 912 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Al Jama-ah GNU | 39 068 | 53 404 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| National Coloured Congress | 37 423 | 47 188 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Pan Africanist Congress of Azania GNU | 36 712 | 40 832 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| United Africans Transformation | 35 679 | 32 269 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GOOD GNU | 29 500 | 36 314 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
A majority is 201 seats. The largest party, the ANC, won 159; it formed the Government of National Unity with nine other parties in June 2024 — 287 seats together (71,8%): ANC, DA, IFP, PA, VF+, UDM, Rise, Al Jama-ah, PAC, GOOD. The UAT signed the statement of intent and withdrew in July 2024.
Schedule 1A items 8–12 · provincial ballots, 2024
Nine legislatures,
487 seats.
Each legislature is shared out like a region: a Droop quota and the largest surpluses, independents capped at one seat. Sizes: IEC Notice 2300 of 2024, from the 2022 census; the Western Cape's 42 are set by its own provincial constitution.
| Province | Seats | Quota | Turnout | Seats won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 72 | 24 558 | 52,7% | ANC 45DA 11EFF 8UDM 3PA 2ATM 1MK 1VF+ 1 |
| Free State | 30 | 26 694 | 57,4% | ANC 16DA 7EFF 4VF+ 1MK 1African Congress for Transformation 1 |
| Gautengno majority | 80 | 48 564 | 60,6% | ANC 28DA 22EFF 11MK 8ActionSA 3VF+ 2PA 2Rise 1IFP 1BOSA 1ACDP 1 |
| KwaZulu-Natalno majority | 80 | 43 310 | 61,8% | MK 37IFP 15ANC 14DA 11EFF 2NFP 1 |
| Limpopo | 64 | 21 779 | 51,4% | ANC 48EFF 9DA 4VF+ 1MK 1UAT 1 |
| Mpumalanga | 51 | 21 982 | 57,1% | ANC 27MK 9EFF 7DA 6VF+ 1ActionSA 1 |
| North West | 38 | 22 698 | 50,7% | ANC 23EFF 7DA 5VF+ 1MK 1ActionSA 1 |
| Northern Capeno majority | 30 | 12 768 | 60,9% | ANC 15DA 7EFF 4PA 3VF+ 1 |
| Western Cape | 42 | 45 774 | 59,8% | DA 24ANC 8PA 3EFF 2NCC 1VF+ 1Al Jama-ah 1ACDP 1GOOD 1 |
Seats computed with Schedule 1A item 11 on the IEC's provincial-ballot files; they match the published compositions of the legislatures.
How the system came to be
From one ballot
to three.
- 1994
The interim Constitution (Schedule 2) sets a 400-member National Assembly elected by list proportional representation: half from national lists, half from regional lists, every seat decided by one national vote. The seat rule is the one still used for the overall count — votes ÷ 401, plus one; at most five seats by largest surplus.
- 1999–2019
The Electoral Act 73 of 1998 carries the same system into Schedule 1A; the Constitution (s. 46) asks for an electoral system that "results, in general, in proportional representation". One ballot for the Assembly, one for the province.
- 2020
In New Nation Movement v President, the Constitutional Court holds the Act unconstitutional because adults could be elected only as party candidates, and gives Parliament time to fix it.
- 2023
The Electoral Amendment Act 1 of 2023 admits independent candidates and splits the Assembly into 200 regional and 200 compensatory seats with separate ballots; on 4 December 2023 the Constitutional Court upholds the 200/200 split (Independent Candidate Association v President) and, the same day, decides a challenge to the signature requirements for new parties and independents (One Movement South Africa v President).
- 2024
First election under the new Schedule 1A. The ANC falls from 230 seats to 159.
| 1994 | 1999 | 2004 | 2009 | 2014 | 2019 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62,6% | 66,4% | 69,7% | 65,9% | 62,1% | 57,5% | 40,2% |
| 252 | 266 | 279 | 264 | 249 | 230 | 159 |