Whilst aimed at greater accountability, it is questionable as to what extent the proportional representation list at constituency level will achieve this. The voter will still vote for a party, but not the candidate. Each party will have a list of more than one candidate and this may confuse voters as to whom they are voting for. On his own admission, the member who sponsored the Bill, the hon Selfe, indicated that the adoption of the Bill would amount to trade-offs such as greater accountability to an extent, on the one hand, as opposed to smaller parties being negatively affected, on the other. The hon Selfe admitted that there would be gains as well as losses. We considered the losses to be too many.
As far as the part of the Bill dealing with absent and special voters is concerned, the committee is of the following opinion. The Electoral Amendment Bill, Bill 22 of 2013, has been submitted to the Speaker by the Minister of Home Affairs in terms of Joint Rule 159 and referred to the committee. This Bill has been properly researched by the electoral commission and deals with similar matters to those in this part of the Private Members Bill.
The committee therefore prefers to deal with these matters when it deals with the Bill, which is now before the committee. The committee thanks the hon Selfe for sponsoring this Bill and in so doing giving the committee the opportunity to engage in a continuous debate on the most appropriate electoral system for our country.
This is certainly a matter that will receive the ongoing attention of both the committee and the Electoral Commission. I thank you. [Applause.] There was no debate.