Vacancies in municipal wards especially in mixed-member proportional systems can seriously hamper democratic representation and electoral continuity. This research looks at the issue of succession by party appointment and by-election in filling municipal council ward vacancies in South Africa, which serves as the main context for the study. Using democratic theory and the principles of proportional representation, it makes the case that party-appointed succession is more consistent with the authority given to parties by voters in proportional systems. A mixed-methods approach has been adopted which first involves analysing what should be done theoretically and secondly analysing the electoral data to see what is done. Besides studying the legal provisions on elections, by-election results for the period 2020 to 2025 will be considered. Theoretically, the focus is on mandate theory and democratic accountability. Methods wise, the quantitative part which is only based on descriptive analysis will provide background and highlight the normative argument raised. The findings reveal that appointing new members through parties helps maintain proportionality, lowers election costs, allows policy continuity, and honours the collective decision of party list voters. Even though by-elections are more democratic in appearance, they regularly feature very low voter turnout, yield unrepresentative results, and distort proportionality to a greater extent than general elections do. According to the paper, in a mixed-member proportional system, a party-appointed successor to a vacant ward seat is both legally valid and ethically sound, and this decision is likely to fuel further discussions about electoral system design and local government accountability.
Sibonangaye Dick Nkalanga (Mon,) studied this question.
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