South Africa: Negotiating a Democratic Constitution

South Africa's transition from apartheid is a landmark in constitution-making. After negotiations between the apartheid government and the African National Congress and other parties, an interim constitution guided the first all-race elections on 27 April 1994, which made Nelson Mandela president.

An elected Constitutional Assembly then drafted a final constitution, which had to satisfy 34 principles agreed in advance; the new Constitutional Court refused to certify the first draft in 1996, and a revised text was approved and signed by Mandela in December 1996 at Sharpeville, taking effect in February 1997. The constitution includes a broad Bill of Rights, including social and economic rights such as access to housing and healthcare.

South Africa's system is parliamentary in that the National Assembly elects the president, who is both head of state and head of government. Elections use closed-list proportional representation. In 1995 the Constitutional Court abolished the death penalty in one of its first major judgements.