Fact check — can an MK party boycott prevent Parliament from electing a President?

But will this have any legal impact on the proceedings?

MK put out a statement on 10 June saying that as part of its ongoing protest against the election results, its 58 newly elected MPs will not attend the first sitting of the National Assembly. 

That inaugural sitting is the occasion on which MPs vote for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, but most importantly for the President of the country. 

MK believes that there have to be at least 350 MPs present for this vote to go ahead.  

https://youtu.be/TESF3lND-ps

 

Zuma himself expressed this view, sort of, in an interview in recent days with EWN’s Tshidi Madia.  

“If there are chairs that are empty, there is no quorum… If MK’s not there, there is no quorum in Parliament,” Zuma said. 

Madia tried to correct him, because both MK and Zuma are wrong on this one — as has been pointed out by numerous legal experts as well as Parliament’s legal adviser. 

Their error is based on a misreading of the Constitution.

Section 46 says that the National Assembly needs to be comprised of a minimum of 350 MPs, but this does not refer to the number of MPs needed for a quorum — which is the minimum number required to be present for the vote.

In fact,  all that is required for the vote for President to go ahead is for 133 MPs to be present. The MK representatives are not needed, and their absence would not prevent the vote from proceeding. DM