2005 South African floor-crossing window period

The 2005 floor crossing window period in South Africa was a period of 15 days, from 1 to 15 September 2005, in which members of the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures were able to cross the floor from one political party to another without giving up their seats. The period was authorised by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa,^[1] which scheduled regular window periods in the second and fourth September after each election. The previous general election had been held on 14 April 2004.

In the National Assembly, the floor-crossing expanded the African National Congress' (ANC) representation from 279 to 293 seats, giving it control of almost three-quarters of the 400-member house. Other existing parties mainly lost seats, with several entirely new parties being created; still-existing parties created in 2005 include the National Democratic Convention

Seven of the nine provincial legislatures were also affected, with only the Free State and North West legislatures remaining unchanged. In both the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature and the Western Cape Provincial Parliament the ANC received enough members to move from a plurality to an absolute majority; in KwaZulu-Natal it gained two members to control 40 of the 80 seats, while in the Western Cape it gained five, to give it 24 of the 42 seats.

This window period also saw the final demise of the New National Party, in which all its members crossed the floor, mostly to become ANC representatives.

The tables below show all the changes; in those provinces not listed there was no change in the provincial legislature.

Tables

National Assembly

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[2]
	African National Congress	279	+14	293
	Democratic Alliance	50	−3	47
	Inkatha Freedom Party	28	−5	23
	United Democratic Movement	9	−3	6
	Independent Democrats	7	−2	5
	African Christian Democratic Party	7	−3	4
	Freedom Front Plus	4	0	4
	National Democratic Convention[note 1]		+4	4
	Pan Africanist Congress	3	0	3
	United Christian Democratic Party	3	0	3
	Minority Front	2	0	2
	United Independent Front[note 1]		+2	2
	Azanian People's Organisation	1	0	1
	Federation of Democrats[note 1]		+1	1
	Progressive Independent Movement[note 1]		+1	1
	United Party[note 1]		+1	1
	New National Party[note 2]	7	−7
Total		400

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	51	0	51
	Democratic Alliance	5	0	5
	United Democratic Movement	6	−2	4
	United Independent Front[note 1]		+2	2
	Pan Africanist Congress	1	0	1
Total		63

Gauteng Provincial Legislature

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	51	0	51
	Democratic Alliance	15	−3	12
	Inkatha Freedom Party	2	0	2
	Federal Alliance	0	+2	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	1	0	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1	0	1
	Independent Democrats	1	0	1
	Pan Africanist Congress	1	0	1
	Alliance of Free Democrats[note 1]		+1	1
	United Independent Front[note 1]		+1	1
	United Democratic Movement	1	−1	0
Total		73

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	38	+2	40
	Inkatha Freedom Party	30	−3	27
	Democratic Alliance	7	−2	5
	National Democratic Convention[note 1]		+4	4
	Minority Front	2	0	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	2	−1	1
	United Democratic Movement	1	0	1
Total		80

Limpopo Provincial Legislature

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	45	0	45
	Democratic Alliance	2	0	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	1	0	1
	United Independent Front[note 1]		+1	1
	United Democratic Movement	1	−1	0
Total		49

Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	27	0	27
	Democratic Alliance	2	0	2
	Christian Party[note 1]		+1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1	−1	0
Total		30

Northern Cape Provincial Parliament

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	21	+3	24
	Democratic Alliance	3	0	3
	Independent Democrats	2	−1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1	0	1
	Freedom Front Plus	1	0	1
	New National Party[note 2]	2	−2
Total		30

Western Cape Provincial Parliament

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after[3]
	African National Congress	19	+5	24
	Democratic Alliance	12	+1	13
	African Christian Democratic Party	2	0	2
	United Independent Front[note 1]		+2	2
	Independent Democrats	3	−2	1
	United Democratic Movement	1	−1	0
	New National Party[note 2]	5	−5
Total		42

National Council of Provinces

The National Council of Provinces was reconstituted as a result of the changes in the provincial legislatures. Its reconstituted makeup was as follows:^[4]

Party		Delegate type	EC	FS	G	KZN	L	M	NW	NC	WC	Total
	African National Congress	Permanent	4	4	4	3	5	5	4	4	3	36	68
		Special	4	4	3	2	4	4	4	4	3	32
	Democratic Alliance	Permanent	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	10	12
		Special			1						1	2
	Inkatha Freedom Party	Permanent			1	2						3	4
		Special				1						1
	Independent Democrats	Permanent								1		1
	Freedom Front Plus	Permanent		1								1
	United Christian Democratic Party	Permanent							1			1
	United Democratic Movement	Permanent	1									1
	United Independent Front[note 1]	Permanent									1	1
	National Democratic Convention[note 1]	Special				1						1
Total			10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	90

Notes to the tables

1. Party created during this floor-crossing period.
2. The New National Party officially dissolved itself during this floor-crossing period, with most of its representatives becoming African National Congress representatives.

See also

• Floor crossing (South Africa)
• 2003 South African floor-crossing window period
• 2007 South African floor-crossing window period

References

1. Constitution Tenth Amendment Act of 2003
2. "Political Parties in National Assembly". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
3. John Kane-Berman; et al. (2008). South Africa Survey 2007/08. South African Institute of Race Relations. p. 649.
4. John Kane-Berman; et al. (2008). South Africa Survey 2007/08. South African Institute of Race Relations. p. 647.