Politics of Orange Free State

Orange Free State is a presidential republic, where the President is both head of state and head of government. The executive, legislature and judiciary are all subject to the supremacy of the Constitution, and the superior courts have the power to strike down executive actions and acts of Parliament if they are unconstitutional. The National Assembly (Volksraad), the lower house of Parliament, consists of 122 members and is elected every six years. The National Council (Nationale Raad), the upper house, consists of fifty members, with each of the five Provincial Councils electing ten members. After each parliamentary election, the National Assembly elects one of its members as the President; hence the President serves a term of office the same as that of the Assembly, normally six years. The judicial system consists of the magistrates' courts, the High Courts, the Supreme Court of Appeal, which is the highest court in all but constitutional matters; and the Constitutional Court, which hears only constitutional matters. Since 1996, Free State politics have been dominated by Volksfront (VF), which has been the dominant party with over 50% of votes. The main challenger to the rule of the VF are the leftist Oranje Kommunistiese Party and the right-wing Nieuwe Nationale Party. The National Party, which was responsible of the apartheid in Free State, ruled from 1930's to 1960's and renamed itself in 1982 to New National Party (Nieuwe Nationale Party). Other major political parties represented in Parliament are the Demokratiese Alliantie (DA), Party van de Arbeid (PvdA), and the Afrikaanse Party (AP).

Government
The Orange Free State legislature is bicameral, with the 122-member Lower House (Volksraad) being elected in a direct national vote every six years and the 50-member upper house (Nationale Raad) being elected on a province basis at the same time by the provincial councils. The President candidates are nominated by the National Raad and elected in their office by the Volksraad. The Orange Free State government is further divided into 11 Ministries, each specializing in certain public administration sector.

Volksraad
Volksraad is the 122 member Lower House of the Orange Free State. It is the main chamber of the Orange Free State parliament, where discussion of proposed legislation and review of the actions of the ministries takes place. Both the Ministries and the Volksraad have the right to propose legislation; the Volksraad discusses it and, if adopted by a majority, sends it on to the Upper House (Nationale Raad). Review of the actions of the ministries takes the form of formal interrogations, which may result in motions urging the cabinet to take, or refrain from, certain actions. No individual may be a member of both parliament and a ministry, except in a caretaker cabinet that has not yet been succeeded when a new Raad is sworn in. The Volksraad is also responsible for the first round of selection for judges to the Supreme Court of the Orange Free State. It submits a list of three names for every vacant position to the Government.

Nationale Raad
Unlike the politically more significant Volksraad, it meets only one day a week but any member may participate in a Volksraad session any given time. Its members tend to be veteran politicians or part-time politicians at the national level, often having other roles. It has the right to accept or reject legislative proposals, but not to amend them or to initiate legislation. Members of the Nationale Raad are elected indirectly through the Provincial Councils, which in turn are elected by the people of the Orange Free State every five years.

President
The President of the Orange Free State is both the Head of State and Government, for this reason he also has a wide range of powers including: Leader of the Cabinet, appoints ministers and members to the Cabinet, awards and confers the National Orders of the State, Commander-in-Chief of the Orange Free State Defence Force, appoints the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice, President and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, must sign all acts of Parliament. The current President of the Orange Free State is Pieter Mulder (VP).

The Council of Ministers and the Cabinet
The Ministerraad (Council of Ministers) is the executive council of the Orange Free State government, formed by all the ministers. This executive council initiates laws and policy. The Ministerraad is distinct from the Cabinet which also includes the President and the state secretaries (who are the aides of the Ministers). State secretaries do not attend the Ministerraad unless they are requested to do so and they do not have voting rights. The Ministerraad makes decisions by means of collegiate governance (everyone must agree to decisions). All ministers are considered equal. If a member of the cabinet does not agree with a particular decision he will have to step down. Generally much effort is put into reaching relative consensus on any decision. A process of voting within the Council does exist, but is hardly ever used. The current Ministries and Ministers are;
 * General Affairs (Prime Minister) - Johannes Theuer
 * Foreign Affairs - Oscar de Wet
 * Finance - Joos Rand
 * Economic Affairs, Agriculture - Mark Molewa-Nene
 * Security and Justice - Liesbeth Gordhan
 * Defence - Hans Peters
 * Education, Culture and Science - Marja Cronin
 * Infrastructure and Industry - Melanie Fransman-Mabhudafhasi
 * Health, Welfare and Sport - Henk Ntuli
 * Social Affairs and Employment - Edith van Schalkwyk
 * Innovation and the Environment - Lucas Martins

Volksfront
The Volksfront (Peoples Front) is currently the ruling party in Orange Free State. The party is categorised centrist and popular among all ethnic groups and around the Free State although it's parliament members are mainly white and coloured. The Volksfront was founded in 1987 by apartheid critics to compete against the Nieuwe National Party and Oranje Kommunistiese Party with a campaign motto: "More than just opposition". In 1990 parliamentary elections however they only received 11.1% of votes, though which was enough for them as the party won a landslide victory in the following 1996 elections receiving 52.3% of votes. In 2002 elections the party received 55.9% of votes and in 2008 52.7% of votes and it currently holds 63 seats of 122 in the Volksraad. The main aim of Volksfront is to bring down the remnants of the apartheid policies and create the nation anew by levelling the income gap among ethnic groups and provide opportunities for everybody disregarding background and ethnicity.

Oranje Kommunistiese Party
Despite a misleading name, Oranje Kommunistiese Party has traditionally been a socialist workers party. The party first came into prominence during 1920's during the Great Depression to protect the rights of mine workers, when the mine industry was the only growing industry in the country and all people wanted to work in the mines. However at the time white and black workers formed two separate unions, the Oranje Kommunistiese Union (OCU, Orange Communist Union) and Afrikaanse Kommunistiese Party (AKP, African Communist Party). Unfortunately the parties were not influential enough to counter the United Party/National Party policies. The AKP was declared illegal in 1941 and the OCU also had to amend its manifesto in 1944 to prevent itself being illegalised. In 1946 it eventually renamed itself as Oranje Kommunistiese Party and began to participate actively in politics and compete with Herenigde Nasionale Party (Reunited National Party). The efforts of the OKP were finally rewarded in 1966 when it won the parliamentary elections. One of the promises of the party was to decrease, if not virtually eliminate, unemployment by international trade. At the time, the leader of the party, Abraham "Bram" Fischer, had notably good relations to Syldavia and Kamchatka.

Demokratiese Alliantie
The DA is broadly centrist, though it has been attributed both centre-left and centre-right policies. The party is a member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network. The party, despite always acting in opposition, offers voters another choice for government. The party's slogan is "One Nation, One Future." This is in line with the new strategy the party is implementing with regard to a non-racial Free State where everyone has equal opportunities. The lack of support for the party can be due to the little known politicians and since it closely resembles Volksfront, but has not managed to increase its public profile from a minority party.

Party van de Arbeid
Although often understood as a centre-leftist party, instead of OKP, Party van de Arbeid is actually a communist party. Founded in 1987 the party adopted the traditional communist motto "Workers of the world, unite and fight!". The party offers hard-line communist opinions for all state matters. One of the main issues of the party is to issue heavy progressive taxation in the Free State and establish free high level healthcare system for everybody.

Afrikaanse Party
Mainly a party for black Africans, the Afrikaanse Party (African Party) was founded in 1987 and receives majority of its votes from the ex-Bantustan regions where black populations are still living in poverty.

Konserwatiewe Party
The conservative party, formed in 1984 as a breakaway from the ruling National Party. Led by Andries Treurnicht, a former Dutch Reformed Church minister, popularly known as 'Doctor No', it drew support from whites, mostly Boer/Afrikaners in the rural heartlands of Orange Free State, who opposed President PW Botha's apartheid reforms, which they saw as a threat to white minority rule, and the racial segregation known as apartheid. It became an official opposition in the Parliament in the elections of 1990, where it received a surprising 20.5% of votes.

2008 Elections
{| class="wikitable" !Party!!Votes!!Votes %!!+/-!!Seats!!+/- From previous election Of 1 699 600 eligible voters 79% (1 342 720) registered to vote and of them, 98% voted (1 315 900) in 2008 parliamentary elections.
 * Volksfront||693 461||52.7%||-3.2%||||X
 * Oranje Kommunistiese Party||194 748||14.8%||+3.9%||||X
 * Nieuwe Nationale Party||157 904||12.0%||-4.6%||||X
 * Demokratiese Alliantie||107 901||8.2%||+1.0%||||X
 * Party van de Arbeid||60 530||4.6%||+1.8%||||X
 * Afrikaanse Party||48 687||3.7%||-0.9%||||X
 * Progressieve Reformiste Party||28 904||2.2%||+1.1%||||X
 * Konserwatiewe Party||23 686||1.8%||+0.9%||||X
 * Party van de Arbeid||60 530||4.6%||+1.8%||||X
 * Afrikaanse Party||48 687||3.7%||-0.9%||||X
 * Progressieve Reformiste Party||28 904||2.2%||+1.1%||||X
 * Konserwatiewe Party||23 686||1.8%||+0.9%||||X
 * Progressieve Reformiste Party||28 904||2.2%||+1.1%||||X
 * Konserwatiewe Party||23 686||1.8%||+0.9%||||X
 * Konserwatiewe Party||23 686||1.8%||+0.9%||||X
 * Konserwatiewe Party||23 686||1.8%||+0.9%||||X