New National Party (NNP), Sport Party, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Phumelela Ratepayers Association, Potchefstroom Inwonersvereniging, Breedevallei Onafhanklik, and the Universal Party Five parties were created by floor crossing in 2003, including the Independent Democrats (ID) and the New Labour Party (NLP); in 2005, the National Democratic Convention (Nadeco) and Progressive Independent Movement (PIM). In practice Generally speaking, the ruling ANC benefited the most from the system, but other parties also managed to gain seats from it. The ANC and other large parties benefited the most from floor crossing because of a clause in the legislation that required ten percent of a party's caucus to cross the floor before any one member could cross. That meant that if ANC MP in the National Assembly who wanted to cross the floor would need to rely on 30 colleagues to do the same because the ANC had 293 MPs in the National Assembly. It was far easier for public representatives of small parties to cross the floor since they needed to collude with fewer of their colleagues. If there were fewer than ten members in a caucus, the ten percent clause effectively allowed each member to cross the floor unilaterally. Criticism and controversy The system was the source of much controversy, with many commentators arguing that it disenfranchised voters, by effectively allowing politicians to 'reallocate' votes as they saw fit. Other critics of floor crossing also argued that it lent itself to bribery and corruption. The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, has pointed out that during the 2002 floor crossing window period in Cape Town, 87% of National Party Councillors that crossed to the ANC were appointed to a position with a better salary. Floor crossing was particularly controversial since South African MPs are elected by proportional representation and are nominated by political parties on a closed party list before general elections. Voters thus vote for a political party, rather than for an individual MP. However, floor crossing allowed MPs to change parties, with the possible result that the composition of the elected bodies no longer represented the original vote count. In a 15 January 2006 interview with the South African Press Association, the president of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, said, "Floor-crossing is like the HI virus because it robs the political system of all honour, holding political parties hostage by rendering them unable to discipline their own members. It allows