Occasional Paper

Floor Crossing and its Political Consequences in South Africa

“This paper discusses the impact of floorcrossing on the party system and representative democracy in South Africa. It focuses specifically on the way in which floor-crossing affects the power balance
among parties and in particular the level of representation between the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), and opposition parties in the legislature. It also interrogates the impact of floor-crossing on South Africa’s representative democracy. It is hoped that this will help to determine the extent to which floorcrossing affects parliamentary opposition in terms of its capacity to influence decision-making in legislatures, including its capacity to provide an effective system of checks and balances, in order to ensure government accountability and transparency in the governance process.”