Stan Simmons
Member of the National Assembly
In office
until May 2009
ConstituencyWestern Cape
Personal details
Born
Stanley Simmons

(1945-10-26) 26 October 1945
CitizenshipSouth Africa
Political partyNational Alliance (since 2007)
Other political
affiliations

Stanley Simmons (born 26 October 1945) is a South African politician who served in the National Assembly until 2009. He joined during the first democratic Parliament as a member of the National Party (NP) and then the New National Party (NNP). However, when the NNP disbanded in September 2005, he crossed the floor to his own one-man party, the United Party of South Africa (UPSA). In September 2007, he crossed the floor again to the National Alliance.

Legislative career

Simmons was not initially elected to the National Assembly in the 1994 general election,[1] but he joined during the legislative term, filling a casual vacancy in the NP's caucus.[2] He was elected to full terms in the assembly in 1999[3] and 2004,[4] and he represented the Western Cape constituency.

However, following the NNP's poor performance in the 2004 general election, the party began preparations to disband, and its members were encouraged to prepare to join the governing African National Congress (ANC). Simmons announced in August 2005 that he would not join the ANC but would instead launch a new party,[5] which became UPSA. When the 2005 floor-crossing window closed in September 2005, Simmons was the only one of the NNP's seven former representatives who did not join the ANC; he instead crossed the floor to UPSA, becoming its sole representative in Parliament.[6][7]

During the next floor-crossing window in September 2007, Simmons again crossed the floor, this time to the National Alliance.[8][7] The party did not win any seats in the 2009 general election.

References

  1. ↑ South Africa: Campaign and Election Report April 26–29, 1994. International Republican Institute. 1994. Retrieved 13 April 2023 – via Yumpu.
  2. ↑ "Members of the National Assembly". Parliament of South Africa. 3 June 1998. Archived from the original on 28 June 1998. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "General Notice: Notice 1319 of 1999 – Electoral Commission: Representatives Elected to the Various Legislatures" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 408, no. 20203. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 11 June 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  4. ↑ "General Notice: Notice 717 of 2004 - Electoral Commission – List of Names of Representatives in the National Assembly and the Nine Provincial Legislatures in Respect of the Elections Held on 14 April 2004" (PDF). Government Gazette of South Africa. Vol. 466, no. 2677. Pretoria, South Africa: Government of South Africa. 20 April 2004. pp. 4–95. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "NNP members give birth to new political party". IOL. 12 April 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "The last bell tolls for the NNP". IOL. 14 September 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  7. 1 2 "National Assembly Members". Parliamentary Monitoring Group. 15 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  8. ↑ Hamlyn, Michael (18 September 2007). "To cross or not to cross?". News24. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
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