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 legislature In South Africa, a provincial legislature is the legislative branch of the government of a province.'' Chapter 6: Provinces'', Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. The provincial legislatures are unicameral and vary in size from 30 ...

s 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 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, also known as states' rights, by stating that the federal governmen ...

of the Constitution of South Africa, 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 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 ...

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

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 279 , +14 , 293 , - , , 50 , −3 , 47 , - , , 28 , −5 , 23 , - , , 9 , −3 , 6 , - , , 7 , −2 , 5 , - , , 7 , −3 , 4 , - , , 4 , 0 , 4 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", National Democratic ConventionParty created during this floor-crossing period. , , +4 , 4 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , , , +2 , 2 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", Federation of Democrats , , +1 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", Progressive Independent Movement , , +1 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", United Party , , +1 , 1 , - , The New National Party officially dissolved itself during this floor-crossing period, with most of its representatives becoming African National Congress representatives. , 7 , −7 , , -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 , - , , 51 , 0 , 51 , - , , 5 , 0 , 5 , - , , 6 , −2 , 4 , - , , , +2 , 2 , - , , 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 , - , , 51 , 0 , 51 , - , , 15 , −3 , 12 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left",

Federal Alliance The Federal Alliance (Afrikaans: ''Federale Alliansie'') was a small South African political party that contested the South African general election in 1999. The party was led by business magnate Louis Luyt, and founded in 1998. They later joine ...

, 0 , +2 , 2 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left",

Alliance of Free Democrats The Alliance of Free Democrats – Hungarian Liberal Party ( hu, Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége – a Magyar Liberális Párt, SZDSZ) was a liberal political party in Hungary. The SZDSZ was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democra ...

, , +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 , - , , 38 , +2 , 40 , - , , 30 , −3 , 27 , - , , 7 , −2 , 5 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", National Democratic Convention , , +4 , 4 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , , 2 , −1 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 80

Limpopo Provincial Legislature

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 45 , 0 , 45 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , , +1 , 1 , - , , 1 , −1 , 0 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 49

Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 27 , 0 , 27 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left",

Christian Party Christian Party may refer to: *Christian Party of Austria * Christian Party (Lithuania) * Christian Party (Samoa) * Christian Party (St. Maarten) * Christian Party (UK), includes the Scottish Christian Party and the Welsh Christian Party *Christian ...

, , +1 , 1 , - , , 1 , −1 , 0 , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 30

Northern Cape Provincial Parliament

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 21 , +3 , 24 , - , , 3 , 0 , 3 , - , , 2 , −1 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 1 , 0 , 1 , - , , 2 , −2 , , -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Total !colspan="3" style="text-align:center", 30

Western Cape Provincial Parliament

, -style="background:#e9e9e9;" !colspan="2" style="text-align:left", Party !Seats before !Net change !Seats after , - , , 19 , +5 , 24 , - , , 12 , +1 , 13 , - , , 2 , 0 , 2 , - , , , +2 , 2 , - , , 3 , −2 , 1 , - , , 1 , −1 , 0 , - , , 5 , −5 , , -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 which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ma ...

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 ! L ! M ! NW ! NC ! 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 , 5 , 4 , 4 , 3 , ''36'' , rowspan=2, ''68'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , 4 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 4 , 4 , 4 , 4 , 3 , ''32'' , - , 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 , 1 , 2 , ''10'' , rowspan=2, ''12'' , - , 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 , 2 , , , , , , ''3'' , rowspan=2, ''4'' , - , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , 1 , , , , , , ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , , 1 , , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , 1 , , , , , , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , 1 , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , 1 , , , , , , , , , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , , style="text-align:left", Permanent , , , , , , , , , 1 , colspan=2, ''1'' , - , bgcolor="#eeeeee", , style="text-align:left", National Democratic Convention , style="text-align:left", Special , , , , 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 2005 in South Africa Political history of South Africa September 2005 events in South Africa