Page:Republic of South Africa Constitution Act 1961 statute book scan.djvu/15

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Act No. 32 of 1961.

House of Assembly.

Constitution of House of Assembly.

40. The House of Assembly shall be composed of―

(a)

one hundred and fifty members, each of whom shall be directly elected by the persons entitled to vote at an election of such a member in an electoral division delimited as provided in section forty-three;

(b)

six members elected in accordance with the provisions of the South-West Africa Affairs Amendment Act, 1949 (Act No. 23 of 1949); and

(c)

four members elected in accordance with the provisions of the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951 (Act No. 46 of 1951).

Elections.

41. At any general election of members of the House of Assembly under this Act, all polls shall be taken on one and the same day in all the electoral divisions throughout the Republic, such day to be appointed by the State President.

Delimitation of electoral divisions.

42. (1) At intervals of not less than five years and not more than ten years commencing from the last delimitation of electoral divisions under the South Africa Act, 1909, the State President shall appoint a delimitation commission consisting of three judges of the Supreme Court of South Africa, which shall divide each province into so many electoral divisions that their number bears, as nearly as possible, the same ratio to one hundred and fifty as, in terms of the current voters’ lists, duly corrected up to the latest possible date, the number of white voters in that province bears to the total number of white voters in the Republic.

(2) In dividing a province into electoral divisions in terms of sub-section (1) the said commission shall act in accordance with the provisions of section forty-three.

Method of dividing provinces into electoral divisions.

43. (1) For the purposes of any division of the provinces into electoral divisions, the quota of each province shall be obtained by dividing the total number of voters in the province as ascertained from an examination of the current voters’ lists by the number of members of the House of Assembly to be elected therein.

(2) Each province shall be divided into electoral divisions in such a manner that each such division shall, subject to the provisions of sub-section (3), contain a number of voters as nearly as may be equal to the quota of the province.

(3) The delimitation commission shall give due consideration to―

(a)

community or diversity of interests;

(b)

means of communication;

(c)

physical features;

(d)

boundaries of existing electoral divisions;

(e)

sparsity or density of population,

in such manner that, while taking the quota of voters as the basis of division, the commission may depart therefrom when-

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