EXPLAINER | What's the fuss about electoral thresholds?

If the ANC and the DA's push to amend the Constitution to allow for electoral thresholds, in which only parties with more than 1% of the vote are given seats in legislatures, eight of the 14 parties represented in Parliament would have no representation.

The national dialogue on coalition governments, hosted by Deputy President Paul Mashatile last Friday and Saturday, heard vehement debate about whether South Africa's electoral system should introduce electoral thresholds.

It means the bar will be raised for parties contesting the election to gain a minimum of 1% of the vote to be considered for a seat in Parliament, provincial legislatures and municipal councils.