The Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature is a people’s assembly that upholds democracy and transparency and has the responsibility of:

• discussing Bills (draft laws) that are introduced in the House by the Members of the Executive Council (MECs)
• writing new laws
• changing any laws that are no longer needed
• discussing national laws that affect the province
• debating on matters of public importance
• approving the budget presented to the Legislature by the provincial Government
• acting as watchdogs on the work of Government, and checking that public money is spent wisely

The Legislature consists of 63 MPLs. The ANC is the majority party in the Legislature as it holds 53 seats. The DA is the Official Opposition as it has the 5 seats. This is followed by the UDM with 4 seats and the APC with 1 seat.

ANC’s 53 MPLs
DA’s 5 MPLs
UDM’s 4 MPLs
APC’s 1 MPL

This shows that the ANC is the majority party in the Legislature and that the DA is the official opposition party. Each party holds a caucus meeting at least once a week to discuss how they are going to deal with issues before the Legislature.