1970 South African general election

1970 South African general election

← 1966 22 April 1970 (1970-04-22) 1974 →
All 166 seats in the House of Assembly 84 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.35% ( 5.87pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader B. J. Vorster De Villiers Graaff Jan Steytler Party National United PFP Last election 58.31%, 126 seats 36.62%, 39 seats 3.05%, 1 seat Seats won 118 47 1 Seat change 8 8 0 Popular vote 820,968 553,280 51,760 Percentage 54.89% 36.94% 3.43%
Prime Minister before election B. J. Vorster National Elected Prime Minister B. J. Vorster National

Politics of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President David Mabuza Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislative National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise Leader of the Opposition John Steenhuisen
Judiciary Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mandisa Maya High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 1910 1915 1920 1921 1924 1929 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 1981 1984 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1960 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality Municipalities (list)
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Lindiwe Sisulu Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights National debt Political assassinations Protests Repression Social Welfare Taxation
Provincial Politics Politics of the Eastern Cape Politics of KwaZulu-Natal Politics of Limpopo Politics of Mpumalanga Politics of the Northern Cape Politics of the Western Cape
South Africa portal Other countries
v t

General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 1970 to elect members of the 166-seat House of Assembly. Parliament was dissolved on 2 March and the deadline for the submission of candidates was 13 March.

The elections marked the first time since the formation of South African in 1910 that the House of Assembly would be responsible solely to White South Africans, as the seats for the four MPs elected separately by "qualified" Cape Coloured voters expired in the same year, completing the process of political apartheid. They were also the first elections after the 1969 expulsion of Albert Hertzog and many verkrampte (hardline) representatives from the ruling National Party (NP), who had subsequently formed the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP). This realignment marked a new chapter in the political divisions of the country, with the hardline Afrikaner right-wing later forming the Conservative Party in the early 1980s.

The elections resulted in the NP retained its large majority, reaffirming it as the dominant party for the post-Verwoerd era. Several new representatives were elected, including Chris Heunis, future Acting President and candidate for the NP leadership, and Pik Botha, future Minister of Foreign Affairs (1977–1994). However, the NP lost seats for the first time since the 1948 election, seeing its representation reduced by eight seats. With Hertzog's HNP failing to win a seat, the split in the nationalist vote benefitted the moderate United Party (UP) in several constituencies, invigorating it for perhaps the last time. Helen Suzman, member for Houghton, retained her seat as the sole representative of the liberal Progressive Party, the last parliament for which she would sit for her caucus alone.

Results[]

Eleven members were elected unopposed. Voting in one constituency did not take place, with the National Party winning the subsequent by-election to give it a total of 118 seats.^[1]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Party	822,034	54.89	117	–9
	United Party	553,280	36.94	47	+8
	Herstigte Nasionale Party	53,735	3.59	0	New
	Progressive Party	51,742	3.45	1	0
	United National South West Party	8,396	0.56	0	0
	National Alliance Party	2,261	0.15	0	New
	Independent Nationalist	1,493	0.10	0	New
	Independent National Party	1,114	0.07	0	New
	Democratic National Party	394	0.03	0	New
	Front Party	74	0.00	0	0
	Independents	3,129	0.21	0	0
	Vacant			1	–
Total		1,497,652	100.00	166	–4
Valid votes		1,497,652	99.34
Invalid/blank votes		9,982	0.66
Total votes		1,507,634	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,161,234	69.76
Source: Potgieter[2]

Aftermath[]

Pik Botha made his maiden speech in an unusual tone for an NP deputy, demanding that the government sign the UN Declaration of Human Rights. F. W. de Klerk was eventually elected to this parliament in a by-election to the seat for Vereeniging in September 1972, replacing NP member V P Coetzee.^[3]

References[]