THE Technical Committee on Constitutional Amendments has submitted that by-elections should be maintained. The committee has further recommended that the number of members of Parliament should increase from 156 to over 276 seats. Meanwhile, Constitutional Lawyer Mehluli Batakathi says the committee has recommended maintaining by-elections because removing them would erode democracy. According to the report which was submitted to the President, it recommended that the current Constitutional provisions should be maintained. “By elections: recommendation; maintain the current Constitutional provisions on By-elections. Nominated members of parliament: (a) Retain Article 69 on nomination of members of Parliament; (b) Amend Article 68(2)(b) to replace the number of nominated ‘eight’ MPs with five percent of constituency- based seats at any given time; and(c) Nomination...
