The National Assembly is the lower house

Lower house

A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...

 of the Parliament of South Africa

Parliament of South Africa

The Parliament of South Africa is South Africa's legislature and under the country's current Constitution is composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces....

, located in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, Western Cape Province. It consists of no fewer than 350 and no more than 400 members. It is elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 system where half of the members are elected proportionally from 9 provincial lists and the remaining half from national lists so as to restore proportionality.

The National Assembly is presided over by a Speaker

Speaker of the South African National Assembly

The Speaker of the National Assembly presides over the National Assembly of South Africa, the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa. The speaker is chosen from among the Members of the Assembly at its first sitting following a general election and whenever the office is vacant...

, assisted by a Deputy Speaker.