---
title: "Fact check — can an MK party boycott prevent Parliament from electing a President?"
description: "The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party led by former president Jacob Zuma has said that it will stop Parliament from electing a President on 14 June by keeping its MPs away from the sitting."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "WATCH THE VIDEO"
author: "Rebecca Davis"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/rebeccadavis-2-2/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-12-fact-check-can-an-mk-party-boycott-prevent-parliament-from-electing-a-president/"
published: "2024-06-12T16:30:32"
updated: "2024-06-12T16:34:31"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 255
---

# Fact check — can an MK party boycott prevent Parliament from electing a President?

> The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party led by former president Jacob Zuma has said that it will stop Parliament from electing a President on 14 June by keeping its MPs away from the sitting.

By Rebecca Davis · Published 12 June 2024, 18:30 SAST · Updated 12 June 2024, 18:34 SAST

## Key points
- Despite MK's bold protest against the election results, their decision to boycott the first sitting of the National Assembly won't actually impact the vote for the President, as legal experts and Parliament's legal adviser have pointed out that only 133 MPs are needed for the vote to proceed, exposing both MK's and Zuma's misunderstanding of the Constitution.
- Legal impact questioned as MK MPs boycott National Assembly sitting
- MK claims 58 MPs needed for quorum, but Constitution requires only 133 for President vote
- Zuma and MK misinterpret Constitution, say legal experts
- Vote for President can proceed without MK MPs present

## Content

But will this have any legal impact on the proceedings?

MK[put out a statement](https://twitter.com/MkhontoweSizwex/status/1799939976580178179/photo/1) on 10 June saying that as part of its ongoing protest against the election results, its [58 newly elected MPs](https://results.elections.org.za/home/NPEPublicReports/1334/National%20Ballot/Seat%20Calculation/National.pdf)will not attend the first sitting of the National Assembly.

That [inaugural sitting](https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/plans-underway-establishment-seventh-democratic-parliament) is the occasion on which MPs vote for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, but most importantly for the President of the country.

MK believes that there have to be at least [350 MPs present](https://x.com/MkhontoweSizwex/status/1799939976580178179/photo/1) for this vote to go ahead.

[YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TESF3lND-ps)

Zuma himself expressed this view, sort of,[in an interview](https://twitter.com/Sgadi28/status/1799844585340080526) in recent days with EWN’s Tshidi Madia.

“If there are chairs that are empty, there is no quorum… If MK’s not there, there is no quorum in Parliament,” Zuma said.

Madia tried to correct him, because both MK and Zuma are wrong on this one — as has been pointed out by numerous legal experts as well as Parliament’s legal adviser.

Their error is based on a misreading of the Constitution.

[Section 46](https://static.pmg.org.za/bills/080819b63b-08.pdf) says that the National Assembly needs to be comprised of a minimum of 350 MPs, but this does not refer to the [number of MPs](https://static.pmg.org.za/NA_Rules_8th_edition.pdf) needed for a quorum — which is the minimum number required to be present for the vote.

In fact, [all that is required](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-06-10-first-national-assembly-sitting-is-on-friday-with-or-without-mk-party-mps/) for the vote for President to go ahead is for 133 MPs to be present. The MK representatives are not needed, and their absence would not prevent the vote from proceeding. **DM**