Mursaleen Hussain 🇵🇸

This is a good question. So the simple way I like to explain how ward and PR seats are allocated is like this… In South Africa we have a proportional representative system. When we go and vote for various parties the IEC afterwards must calculate how we voted in the way that seats get allocated PROPORTIONALLY to each party based on how many votes it got. Now ward seats are easy because whichever party got the most votes in that ward get allocated that ward seat. HOWEVER other parties get votes in that ward too and those voters voices must be heard too. So those votes will help those other parties get PR ( Proportional representative seats) This is too make sure that those votes from those voices don’t get discarded. The more wards a party needs means the fewer PR seats it will need because it is already represented by having won the outright ward seats. PR seats help to balance the council by making sure that number of seats a party wins reflects its overall share in that municipality. So a party may not have done well enough to have won a ward outright but it did get votes and so those votes means it can be eligible for PR seats. This makes sure that just because one party may win the most wards it doesn’t skew distort the overall choices of the voters. Our system is a beautiful thing in this way. So let’s say in a municipality you have 10 seats. You have 3 parties in that municipality party A,B and C. Party A wins 50% of the Votes Party B wins 30% Party C wins 20% That means in terms of seats Party A should get 5 Party B should get 3 Party C should get 2 Now when you look at how each party did both for their ward and PR votes you find that Party A won 4 wards Party B won 1 ward Party C won no wards This is where the PR comes in Party A has won 4 ward seats but it’s entitled to 5 seats because of its votes so it only needs 1 PR vote to make up its overall share of the seats Party B won 1 ward seat so it gets 1 PR seat to make up its overall share of the 2 seats it was entitled to. Party C didn’t win any wards but its overall votes entitle it to 2 seats so it gets 2 PR seats It important to realise PR seats are not a “bonus” they are there to balance council and make sure that each parties seats reflect their overall share of the vote Hope that helps. It’s easier to explain when I say it so apologies for any grammar, my brain is kinda dead at the moment from Observer work 😭