TESSA DOOMS | Kind of electoral system SA chooses matters as much as who we vote for

On Thursday, October 20 2022, Liz Truss became Britain shortest-serving prime minister in history. After 45 days in office Truss resigned under a cloud of confusion, shame, and fury from both MPs in her party and the majority of the people of Britain whose ire at her poor governance choices saw her have only a 10% favourability rating among citizens in the last week of her brief stint as prime minister. British politicians know to take seriously the idea of public representation.

Without a mandate from the people shown through support and trust, parties and individual representatives alike understand their political power is constrained by the people’s power to hire and fire them.

What causes British politicians to resign before being impeached or fired is not simply bad headlines or poor ratings in polls. It is also not as simple as having ethical and honest politicians. They resign because of the power the electoral and governance systems for voters and communities to hold political leaders to account. What happened in Britain is exactly why the type of electoral system a country chooses matters so much.

Although there is no direct election of a prime minister by voters, the MPs entrusted to vote for one are directly elected by their local communities – called constituencies – to represent them in parliament. So even though the majority of MPs are members of the Conservative or Labour parties, when they are in parliament, they cannot simply choose to follow the party line, determined by party bosses at their headquarters.

As constituency-based MPs they must consider the mandate and wishes of the people from the local communities they come from before making any vote in parliament. Those communities are the direct reason they are given the opportunity to serve in parliament, but can also recall an MP at any time.

The Recall of MPs Act of 2015 allows any voting constituency to trigger a by-election at any time if they do not feel adequately represented. MPs always have to be aware of the views of the people.

This reality is ultimately what sank Truss’s stay at 10 Downing Street. Truss, who came in with strong support from the rank and file of the Conservative Party, undoubtedly made big errors in economic policy. In her administration’s first mini budget, tabled on September 23 2022, her minister of finance announced drastic changes in tax policy that sent the financial markets into free fall.

The impact on British people and households was immediate, as amid having to deal with a high cost of living and energy crisis, their bond and car repayments skyrocketed. People felt the immediate cost of bad leadership decisions in government. Truss had no mandate and the backlash from the public showed it.

The final straw, however, was not the mini-budget disaster, it was a vote in parliament about fracking. Fracking is a controversial energy generation practice that divides people over its effects on the environment. A day before Truss resigned, parliament had a vote scheduled on fracking. Truss’s Conservative Party instructed MPs that there was a party line to vote for more fracking, a proposal made by Truss.

Many Conservative MPs were concerned about this. For some, they had run campaigns in their constituencies by promising they would not support increased fracking. The interests of the Conservative Party and Liz Truss’s desperation to show she was a strong prime minister, now had these MPs voting for something that would anger their constituents. Some voted the party line against their better judgment, forcing MPs to betray their voters and endanger their own seats. Being forced to make this compromise triggered the call that Truss had to resign the next day.  

The kind of electoral system a country chooses matters. How we vote matters as much as who we vote for. Ironically, at the exact time Truss resigned, SA MPs were voting on a historic Electoral Amendment Bill that will change our system of voting.

Calls have been made by pressure groups and MPs from seven parties in parliament to #RejecttheBill in its current form as it has many questions about the fairness of the electoral system it would lead to. Interestingly, one of the debates the bill centres on is constituencies and accountability. May the benefits of an electoral system that promotes accountability directly to the people be a lesson to all South Africans to ensure the electoral system we get from this bill is one that gives more power to the people.