The 2003 floor crossing window period in South Africa was a period of 15 days, from 21 March to 4 April 2003, in which members of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

and the provincial legislatures were able to

cross the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

from one political party to another without giving up their seats. The period was authorised by the passage of the

Tenth Amendment The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. It expresses the principle of federalism, whereby the federal government and the individual states share powe ...

of the

Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the human rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of t ...

. The amendment scheduled regular window periods in the second and fourth September after each election, but the second and fourth Septembers after the 1999 election had already passed, so it included provision for a special window period starting fifteen days after the amendment came into effect. In the National Assembly, the floor-crossing expanded the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

' (ANC) representation from 266 seats, one short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution, to 275 seats. In the

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the leading party or coalition members ...

, the

Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP; ) is a conservative political party in South Africa, which is a part of the current South African Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa, government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC). A ...

(IFP) and the ANC were before the window period the largest and second-largest parties respectively. As a result of the floor-crossing, they changed places; however, the ANC did not attain an absolute majority, holding 35 seats of 80. In the

Western Cape Provincial Parliament The Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) is the legislature of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located at 7 Wale Street in Cape Town. The Provincial Parliament, along with the other provincial legislatures of South Africa, ...

the ANC expanded its representation to an absolute majority, growing from 18 to 22 seats of a total 42. During this window period representatives of the Democratic Party (DP) officially became representatives of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Amongst a group of new parties created by floor-crossing, the most significant was the

Independent Democrats The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption, with ...

, who gained one member in the National Assembly and one in the

Gauteng Provincial Legislature The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 80 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the seventh, was 2019 Gauteng provincial election, elected on ...

. The tables below show all the changes; in those provinces not listed there was no change in the provincial legislature, other than the DP becoming the DA.

Tables

National Assembly

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 266 , +9 , 275 , - , Democratic Party representatives officially became Democratic Alliance representatives during this floor-crossing period. , 38 , +8 , 46 , - , , 34 , −3 , 31 , - , , 28 , −8 , 20 , - , , 6 , +1 , 7 , - , , 14 , −10 , 4 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 3 , −1 , 2 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", Federal Alliance , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", African Independent MovementParty created during this floor-crossing period. , , +1 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", Alliance for Democracy and Prosperity , , +1 , 1 , - , , , +1 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", National Action , , +1 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", Peace and Justice Congress , , +1 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left",

Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging The Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (Afrikaner Unity Movement) was a small South African political party founded in Pretoria in 1998. It was led by Cassie Aucamp, and based on Afrikaner nationalism. The party participated in the South African genera ...

, 1 , −1 , 0 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 400

Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 47 , +2 , 49 , - , , 9 , −2 , 7 , - , , 4 , +1 , 5 , - , , 2 , −1 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 63

Gauteng Provincial Legislature

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 50 , 0 , 50 , - , , 13 , −1 , 12 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", Federal Alliance , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , , +1 , 1 , - , , , +1 , 1 , - , , 1 , −1 , 0 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 73

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 32 , +3 , 35 , - , , 34 , −2 , 32 , - , , 7 , −1 , 6 , - , , 3 , −1 , 2 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left",

Peace and Development Party The Peace and Development Party (PDP, ) was a political party in Somalia. It was established in April 2011 by Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the President of Somalia from 2012 to 2017. PDP members unanimously elected him as the party's Chairman in Ap ...

, , +1 , 1 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 80

Western Cape Provincial Parliament

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 18 , +4 , 22 , - , , 17 , −7 , 10 , - , , 5 , +2 , 7 , - , , 1 , +1 , 2 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", New Labour Party , , +1 , 1 , - , , 1 , −1 , 0 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 42

National Council of Provinces

The

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the post-apartheid constitution of South Africa, constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate of South Africa# ...

was reconstituted as a result of the changes in the provincial legislatures. Its reconstituted makeup was as follows: , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !style="text-align:left", Delegate type ! EC ! FS ! G ! KZN ! M ! NW ! NC ! NP ! WC !colspan=2, ''Total'' , - , style="width: 4px" bgcolor= rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 5 , 4 , 4 , 5 , 3 , ''36'' , rowspan=2, ''66'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , 4 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 4 , 4 , 3 , 4 , 2 , ''30'' , - , style="width: 4px" bgcolor= rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1 , , , 1 , ''7'' , rowspan=2, ''9'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , 1 , , , , , , 1 , ''2'' , - , style="width: 4px" bgcolor= rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , 1 , 1 , , , , 2 , , 1 , ''5'' , rowspan=2, ''7'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , , , , 1 , , 1 , ''2'' , - , style="width: 4px" bgcolor= rowspan=2, , style="text-align: left;" scope="row" rowspan=2 , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , 2 , , , , , , ''2'' , rowspan=2, ''4'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , 2 , , , , , , ''2'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 1 , , , , , , , 1 , , colspan=2, ''2'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , , , 1 , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , 1 , , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="3" style="text-align:left", Total !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !10 !colspan=2, ''90''

Notes to the tables

References

{{Reflist Floor-crossing window period History of political parties in South Africa Party switching March 2003 in Africa April 2003 in Africa 2003 in politics