South Africa has changed its electoral law, but a much more serious overhaul is needed

Hundreds of people stand in line to vote in South Africa's first democratic election in April 1994. Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed into law a change to the country’s electoral act to allow individuals to contest national and provincial elections independently of political parties. The change follows a June 2020 constitutional court judgment that the Electoral Act was unconstitutional because it didn’t allow independent candidates.

But in my view the change corrects one wrong by creating another, especially concerning the principle of proportionality.