De Klerk Proposes Ruling Council : South Africa: Elected in a multiracial vote, it would replace the president. The plan addresses ANC demands on move to democracy.

President Frederik W. de Klerk, moving some way toward meeting African National Congress demands, proposed Thursday that his job be replaced during the transition to democracy by an “executive council,” elected in a multiracial nationwide vote.

De Klerk’s proposal, made in a speech to Parliament in Cape Town, was an attempt to break the logjam in closed-door negotiations with the ANC over how to replace the current white-minority government and give blacks the vote.

The ANC had no immediate reaction to the proposal, which De Klerk said he will soon put before the ANC and other negotiators in the multi-party Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA).

Any transitional accords will require the agreement of the ANC and others of De Klerk’s opponents in CODESA as well as the approval of the current Parliament.

De Klerk said the executive council, with a chairmanship that would rotate twice a year, was part of his broad plan for a smooth transition period during which “all of us may live our lives in peace and security, raise our children, develop our talents and retain that for which we have worked hard.”

He added that his plan contains “the backbone of real democracy. We do not wish to leave South Africa without a responsible government at any time during the process of democratization.”

The announcement Thursday represented a change in the government’s transitional proposals. Previously, it had favored a rotating three-person presidency, which would have been appointed by the political parties gaining the most votes in a newly elected, multiracial Parliament.

His executive council, however, would be created in a separate multiracial election in which each political party would nominate one candidate. The three to five people receiving the most votes would form an executive council, and its chairman would carry out the duties of president.

That would virtually guarantee popular black leaders such as Nelson Mandela a share of the country’s leadership, but it also would give leaders of minority parties, such as De Klerk, a share of that power. It appeared to go part way toward meeting ANC demands for a share of executive power at an early stage in the transition.

“This proposal makes it possible to find a way to quickly . . . and effectively let the people of South Africa decide (on) the core of leaders they want to . . . lead the process of further change,” De Klerk said.

Under De Klerk’s current transitional proposals, the road to a new constitution would have three stages. First, as an interim measure, CODESA would appoint multiracial “preparatory councils” to assist De Klerk and his Cabinet ministers in governing the country.

Then, the executive council would be elected in a national vote, followed by elections for a two-chamber Parliament. One chamber would be elected by proportional representation in a one-person, one-vote election. The other, similar to the U.S. Senate, would give each region equal representation.

That would be known as the transitional government, and De Klerk has said it could be in place for 10 or 15 years, during which time it would move to the third stage of the process--drawing up a new, permanent constitution.

The ANC agrees on the need for a transitional government, but it wants the life span of that body to be shorter, perhaps 18 months.