Apathy and disillusionment may be factors in the considerably reduced voter turn-out in the recent elections, but the real problem could lie in the electoral system itself, based on closed-list proportional representation. 'It may be that voters do not feel that they are properly represented by the people who sit in Parliament, and that Parliament has simply become a rubber stamp in the hands of the executive,' says Christine Botha, acting Director, Centre for Constitutional Rights, in an analysis on the Politicsweb site. She adds that the effective control political parties exercise over MPs also undermines a proper separation of powers between the executive and the legislature. 'This was especially seen during the Zuma era, where Parliament failed its constitutional mandate to exercise proper legislative oversight over the executive, to the extent that the courts had to intervene.' The issue of accountability in the electoral system also indirectly came to the fore in a recent legal challenge in New Nation Movement PPC and Others (New Nation) versus the President and Others. The Constitutional Court heard New Nation's urgent leave to appeal a mere six days before the general elections but adjourned the matter to 15 August as New Nation failed to justify the urgency of the matter. Botha says it would be important for the Constitutional Court to provide finality on this issue, especially since conflicting views on the meaning of section 19(3)(b) of the Constitution exist. But the issue has already been extensively examined, she says, referring to the 2000 Cabinet-appointed Electoral Task Team, headed by Dr Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, to investigate electoral reform. The Van Zyl Slabbert Majority Report accordingly recommended a 'mixed system', where 300 members of the National Asembly are to be chosen from multi-member constituencies (to be established) and the remaining 100 on the current proportional representation system. 'This arguably will provide for closer interaction between the electorate and MPs. Sadly, the Van Zyl Slabbert Majority Report was never adopted. There was very little political push for electoral reform from the governing party, as proportional representation arguably suited them very well.' However, with the focus on the next general election and with the pending New Nation Constitutional Court hearing, it could be the opportune time to push for electoral reform and reconsideration of the Van Zyl Slabbert Report, she says.