1938 South African general election

none June 2020 South Africa 1928 Parliamentary 1933 South African general election 1933 18 May 1938 1943 South African general election 1943 All 150 general roll seats in the House of Assembly 76 1,052,652 79.36% ( 45.59pp) 150x150px JBM Hertzog - SA (cropped).jpg 113 113 150 0 0 J. B. M. Hertzog United Party (South Africa) Smithfield 53.95%, 136 seatsNational Party and South African Party combined. 111 25 446,032 53.81% 0.14pp DFMalanPortret (cropped).jpg 113 113 150 0 0 D. F. Malan Purified National Party Piketberg Did not exist 27 New party 259,543 31.31% New party Charles Stallard (cropped).jpg 113 113 150 0 0 Charles Stallard Dominion Party (South Africa) Roodepoort(lost re-election) Did not exist 8 New party 52,356 6.32% New party Walter Madeley (cropped).jpg 113 113 150 0 0 Walter Madeley Labour Party (South Africa) Benoni 6.34%, 2 seats 3 1 48,641 5.87% 0.47pp Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog United Party (South Africa) J. B. M. Hertzog United Party (South Africa) 300px Results by province 300px Largest party by province General elections were held in South Africa on 18 May 1938 to elect the 150 members of the House of Assembly.Keesing's Contemporary Archives 1937-1940, pp. 3074-3075 The United Party won an absolute majority. Background The National Party (led by the Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog) and the South African Party (whose leader was the Deputy Prime Minister Jan Smuts) were in coalition at the time of the 1933 South African general election. After the election the two coalition parties fused, to become the United South African National Party (commonly known as the United Party). The formal launch of the new party took place on 5 December 1934. Those members of the National Party who did not accept the fusion, constituted themselves as the Purified National Party (PNP) in June 1934. The leader of the new party was Dr. D. F. Malan, who had been the National Party leader in Cape Province. Eighteen MPs joined the PNP caucus. Dr. Malan became the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Assembly. The members of the South African Party who rejected the fusion, formed the Dominion Party. Its leader was Colonel C. F. Stallard.Smuts: A Reappraisal Changes to the franchise and representation Under the Representation of Natives Act 1936, all registered black voters in the Cape Province were removed from the common voters' lists and placed on a special Cape Natives voters' roll. This served to effectively dismantle the traditional multi-racial "Cape Qualified Franchise" system, although the more numerous Coloured voters remained on the rolls for another twenty years until the advent of the first all-white voter rolls in 1958. The Native MPs were abolished in 1960. Black voters had never been entitled to vote in Transvaal and the Orange Free State, under previous racial franchise rules under the Afrikaner republics preserved under the South Africa Act. Few had ever qualified in Natal. The voters' rolls, for 1935, were broken down by race in each province (using the racial classifications in use in South Africa at the time). Province White Native Coloured Asiatic Cape 382,103 10,628 21,596 1,401 Natal 91,762 1 343 10 Transvaal 349,400 - - - Orange FS 101,089 - - - The South African Constitution, page 93 No black voters were eligible to participate in the 1938 general election, apart from the one from Natal. The three (white) Native Representative Members from Cape Province were elected on a different date, for a term (expiring on 30 June immediately following a period of five years after the previous election) unaffected by dissolutions of Parliament.The South African Constitution, pp. 101–109 (for the details of the native representative seats); The South African Constitution, page 95: H.J. May, writing in 1955, discussed the qualification for non-Europeans in Natal to be voters on the common (or general) roll. "There was only one Native in Natal (and only one therefore in the whole of the Union) on the general voters' list in 1945, and now there are none. The first group of native representatives had been elected in June 1937. The term for which they were elected expired on 30 June 1942. The representatives took their seats in the House of Assembly in 1938, and sat as Independent MPs.The Times, 9 January 1937Smuts: a Reappraisal, pp122, 213 Delimitation of electoral divisions The South Africa Act 1909 had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division. The representation by province, under the seventh delimitation report of 1937, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1932) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.South Africa 1982, page 129 (table setting out delimitations of seats by province, the relevant one being that of 1937) Provinces Cape Natal Orange Free State Transvaal Total Divisions 59 (61) 16 15 (16) 60 (57) 150 The above table does not include the three Native representative seats in Cape Province, which were not included in the delimitation of the general roll seats under the South Africa Act 1909. Nominations Candidates nominated for the election, by party, were United 150, Purified National 103, Labour 37, Dominion 33, Independent 31, Greyshirts 3 and Socialists 3. Total 360.Keesing's Contemporary Archives 1937-1940, pp. 3074-3075 Results Results of the 1938 South African general election File:South African House of Assembly 1938.svg United Party 446032 111 –25 Purified National Party 259543 27 New Dominion Party 52356 8 New Labour Party 48641 3 +1 Socialist Party 4963 1 New Independents 17362 0 –10 Native Representative Members 3 New +3 6481 1052652 South Africa 1982South Africa 1982, pp174–176 By province Province United Purified National Dominion Labour Socialist Total Cape 38 20 1 - - 59 Natal 7 - 7 1 1 16 Orange FS 9 6 - - - 15 Transvaal 57 1 - 2 - 60 Total 111 27 8 3 1 150Source: Keesing's Contemporary ArchivesKeesing's Contemporary Archives 1943-1946, pp. 6005-6008. The article is mostly about the 1943 general election, but includes the results, by province, of the 1938 election. Notes References Keesing's Contemporary Archives Smuts: A Reappraisal, by Bernard Friedman (George, Allen & Unwin 1975) 0-04-920045-3 South Africa 1982 Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, published by Chris van Rensburg Publications The South African Constitution, by H.J. May (3rd edition 1955, Juta & Co Category:General elections in South Africa South Africa General Category:May 1938 in Africa