27th South African Parliament

27th South African Parliament
← 26th 28th →
Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa
Overview
Jurisdiction	South Africa
Meeting place	Cape Town
Term	22 May 2019 (2019-05-22)–present
National Assembly of South Africa
Composition of the National Assembly
Members	400
Speaker	Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula
Deputy Speaker	Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli
Leader of the Opposition	John Steenhuisen
National Council of Provinces
Composition of the National Council of Provinces
Members	90
Chairperson	Amos Masondo
Deputy Chairperson	Sylvia Lucas
Leader of the Opposition	Cathlene Labuschagne

The 27th South African Parliament is the sixth Parliament of South Africa to convene since the introduction of non-racial government in South Africa in 1994. It was elected in the general election of 8 May 2019 and consists of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National Assembly contains 400 members, while the National Council of Provinces contains 90 members. It was formally opened by President Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address in a joint sitting on 20 June 2019.^[1]

Members of Parliament were sworn in on 22 May 2019.^[2] The 27th Parliament first convened on 22 May 2019 to re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa as President of South Africa.^[3]

Fourteen different political parties are represented in this parliament. The majority party in the 26th Parliament, the African National Congress (ANC) retained its majority, although it was reduced to 230 (57.50%) seats, down from the 249 seats out of 400 (62.25%) it had it in the previous Parliament, while the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) declined from 89 seats (22.25%) in the 26th Parliament to 84 seats (21%) in the 27th Parliament. Former National Council of Provinces Chairperson Thandi Modise was elected Speaker of the National Assembly, while Solomon Lechesa Tsenoli retained his post as Deputy Speaker. Pemmy Majodina was appointed Chief Whip of the ANC caucus.

The following day, 23 May 2019, the National Council of Provinces reconvened to elect Amos Masondo as the Chairperson, and Sylvia Lucas as the Deputy Chairperson. Seiso Mohai remained Chief Whip of the Majority Party.^[4][5]