1961 South African general election

none June 2020 South Africa 1928 Parliamentary 1958 South African general election 1958 18 October 1961 1966 South African general election 1966 All 156 general roll seats in the House of Assembly 79 1,811,160 44.55% ( 29.81pp) 150x150px File:Zuid Afrikaanse premier dr. H. Verwoerd, Bestanddeelnr 911-1297 (cropped).jpg H. F. Verwoerd National Party (South Africa) 55.54%, 103 seats 105 2 370,395 46.44% 9.10pp Sir De Villiers Graaff 1960.jpg 113 113 150 0 0 De Villiers Graaff United Party (South Africa) 42.57%, 53 seats 49 4 261,361 35.28% 7.29pp Parlementslede van die Progressiewe Party 1960 (cropped).jpg 113 113 150 0 0 Jan Steytler Progressive Party (South Africa) Did not exist 1 New party 69,045 8.66% New party Henry Allan Fagan c.1916 (cropped).jpg 113 113 150 0 0 5218FA Henry Allan Fagan National Union Did not exist 1 New party 50,279 6.30% New party Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd National Party (South Africa) H. F. Verwoerd National Party (South Africa) South African Election of 1961.png Results by province General elections were held in South Africa on 18 October 1961.Stultz Newell M. Butler Jeffrey March 1963 The South African General Election of 1961 2146669 Political Science Quarterly Academy of Political Science 78 1 86–110 10.2307/2146669 They were the first general elections after South Africa became a republic following the 1960 South African referendum. The National Party (NP) under H. F. Verwoerd won a majority in the House of Assembly. The National Union Party, led by Japie Basson and ex-Chief Justice Henry Allan Fagan in alliance with the United Party, had been formed as a "bridge" to the United Party by disgrunted ex-Nationalists who were unhappy with Verwoerd's leadership, aiming at the National, Afrikaner electorate. With the exception of the constituency of Bezuidenhout, won by Basson in a landslide, the party failed and later merged with the United Party. The elections also saw the first general election appearance of the liberal Progressive Party, which had broken away from the United Party in 1959. The new party retained one MP, in the form of Helen Suzman. She was to remain its sole parliamentary representative until 1974. Only White South Africans were allowed to vote, as non-whites had last taken part in a general election in 1953. The voting age for whites was also lowered from 21 to 18, yet turnout in this herrenvolk democracy was only around 44%, which was 29.81 percentage points lower than the previous election. Changes in franchise End of black representation During the previous Parliament the seats of the three MPs and four Senators representing black South Africans had been abolished. The 1961 election produced the first Parliament with no representation at all for black South Africans.In No Uncertain Terms Helen Suzman 1994 44 Coloured Representative Members The second election for the four Coloured representative members took place on 4 October 1961, before the (white voters only) general election on 18 October 1961. Under the Separate Representation of Voters Act 1951, the members were to serve until the dissolution of the new Parliament. The four seats were won by Independents, with United Party support. The recently formed Progressive Party did not contest the four vacancies.Keesing’s Contemporary Archives, 1961–1962 18449 Reduction in voting age This was the first election after the passage of the Electoral Law Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1958, which reduced the voting age for white voters from 21 to 18.Muriel Horrell A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1957–1958 South African Institute of Race Relations 10 http://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/cis/omalley/OMalleyWeb/dat/SAIRR%20Survey%201957-58.pdf 28 June 2011 Delimitation of electoral divisions The South Africa Act 1909 had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division, for general roll voters in the four provinces. The representation by province, under the eleventh delimitation report of 1958, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1953) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.South Africa 1982 Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa 129 This was only the second general election, in South African history, where the boundaries were unchanged from the previous election. Provinces Cape Natal Orange Free State Transvaal Total Divisions 52 (54) 16 (15) 14 (13) 68 150 Composition at dissolution At the end of the 12th Parliament elected since the Union of 1910, when it was dissolved in 1961, the House of Assembly consisted of two groups of members. White voters were represented by 156 general roll members and coloured voters in Cape Province by four white MPs known at the time as Coloured Representative Members (CRM). The general election only affected the representatives of white voters. The other members were elected on a different date (see above). The representation by party and province, at the dissolution was: Province National United Progressive National Union CRM Total Cape (general) 33 14 5 - - 52 Cape (CRM) - - - - 4 4 Natal 2 11 3 - - 16 Orange Free State 14 - - - - 14 South-West Africa 5 - - 1 - 6 Transvaal 48 17 3 - - 68 Total 102 42 11 1 4 160 Results A total of 70 seats were uncontested, of which 50 were won by the National Party and 20 by the United Party. File:South African House of Assembly 1961.svg National Party 370395 105 +2 United Party 281361 49 –4 Progressive Party 69045 1 New National Union 50279 1 New #5218FA Conservative Workers' Party 8554 0 New United National South West Party 6856 0 0 Independent Republican Party 2903 0 New Liberal Party 2461 0 0 Independents 5707 0 0 Coloured Representative Members 4 0 –3 4518 1811160 PotgieterDirk J. Potgieter 1971 Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Volume 4 273 By province Province National United Progressive National Union Independents TotalCape (general)341800052Cape (CRM)000044Natal21400016Orange Free State14000014South-West Africa600006Transvaal491711068Total10549114160 By electoral division ProvinceConstituencyNationalUnitedNationalUnionProgressiveConservativeWorkers'LiberalIndependentInvalid/blankTotalRegisteredvotersTurnoutCape of Good HopeAlbany6,0691,175647,30811,52163.43Aliwal5,1483,767608,9759,67992.73Beaufort WestUnopposedBellville8,2743,9957112,34014,95382.53CeresUnopposedConstantia7,6531,115438,81113,49965.27CradockUnopposedDe Aar—ColesbergUnopposedFort Beaufort4,9623,597418,6009,38891.61George7,6241,379506459,55410,96787.12GordoniaUnopposedGraaff-ReinetUnopposedGreen PointUnopposedHottentots-Holland5,8064,2644910,11910,92692.61Humansdorp5,9793,154209,15310,41487.89Cape Town GardensUnopposedKimberley North6,5664,0047110,64112,21387.13Kimberley South6,3594,9254311,32712,62989.69King William’s TownUnopposedKurumanUnopposedMaitland4,6101,6883,7032710,02812,33681.29MalmesburyUnopposedMoorreesburgUnopposedMossel BayUnopposedNamakwalandUnopposedEast London North6,1582,519588,73512,98467.28East London City6,0531,277407,37012,30459.90OudtshoornUnopposedPaarl7,2722,8933610,20111,67687.37ParowUnopposedPinelands6,4332,881689,38212,73073.70PiketbergUnopposedPort Elizabeth North6,7633,9952910,78713,84277.93Port Elizabeth CentralUnopposedPort Elizabeth South5,8963,166749,13613,18969.27Port Elizabeth WestUnopposedPrieska5,0593,244408,3439,10091.68Queenstown5,7065,3377811,12111,44097.21RondeboschUnopposedSea Point6,1993,428539,68012,99774.48Simonstown6,2441,612607,91613,07160.56Somerset EastUnopposedSalt River4,6702,190566,91610,75764.29Stellenbosch7,4652,5567214310,78513,24781.41Swellendam5,5523,762619,37510,27791.22Transkeian TerritoriesUnopposedUitenhageUnopposedFalse Bay6,7313,7815710,56912,75082.89VascoUnopposedVryburgUnopposedWorcester6,8323,1755610,06311,42488.09Wynberg6,3111,911188,24011,40272.27NatalDrakensbergUnopposedDurban—Berea5,4514,5685810,07712,98677.60Durban—Musgrave5,1814,222339,43612,57575.04Durban North6,1673,9919110,24913,46376.13Durban PointUnopposedDurban Central5,349504435,89612,16748.46Durban-UmbiloUnopposedDurban UmlaziUnopposedNatal South Coast4,9562,3671151047,54210,16474.20Newcastle5,9193,646659,63011,12386.58Pietermaritzburg District4,0143,839837,93611,48869.08Pietermaritzburg City3,9153,2821297,32613,62153.78Pinetown5,0323,064798,17511,50671.05UmhlatuzanaUnopposedVryheid5,5552,8041098,4689,76886.69Zululand4,2005,856104Withdrew before election day5510,21511,73887.03Orange Free StateBethlehemUnopposedBloemfontein DistrictUnopposedBloemfontein East7,4853,2011610,70214,83072.16Bloemfontein West8,0763,6451611,73714,67879.96Fauresmith—BoshofUnopposedHarrismithUnopposedHeilbronUnopposedKroonstad7,5241,837659,42611,13384.67LadybrandUnopposedOdendaalsrus7,7972,3044910,15013,44575.49SmithfieldUnopposedVredefortUnopposedWelkom8,2173,8903212,13915,90476.33WinburgUnopposedSouth-West AfricaEtoshaUnopposedKaras2,9542,113"UNSWP" United National South West Party265,0935,72289.01Middelland3,2642,135"UNSWP"405,4396,56082.91NamibUnopposedOmaruruUnopposedWindhoek3,7092,608"UNSWP"746,3918,02179.68TransvaalAlberton7,0992,094299,22213,42968.67Benoni3,9571,293525,30212,11243.77Bethal-Middelburg5,7572,521518,32910,21681.53Bezuidenhout1,9836,507268,51611,83971.93Boksburg6,9205,4133512,36814,05188.02Brakpan6,1583,629969,88312,55978.69BritsUnopposedChristiana6,4382,322518,81110,01587.98Edenvale6,5093,8122910,35013,78175.10Ermelo5,5202,811718,4029,92684.65Florida4,4736,4072810,90812,75085.55Geduld7,0063,5763310,61513,92276.25Germiston6,2392,053318,32311,01575.56Germiston District3,6756,6912210,38813,36277.74GroblersdalUnopposedHeidelbergUnopposedHerculesUnopposedHillbrow5,5641,346456,95512,69054.81Hospital4,799992305,82110,87753.52Houghton4,8415,4056910,31512,77180.77InnesdalUnopposedJeppesUnopposedJohannesburg North5,4134,5416710,02113,24575.66Kempton ParkUnopposedKensingtonUnopposedKlerksdorp8,9123,2261083312,27915,70578.19Krugersdorp6,0233,831479,90112,55578.86Langlaagte5,8912,325588,27411,84469.86LichtenburgUnopposedLosbergUnopposedLydenburg—Barberton5,3262,849798,2549,75884.59MaraisburgUnopposedMarico5,4292,390547,8739,06186.89Mayfair5,4312,039347,50411,17667.14Nelspruit5,7903,059378,88610,56484.12NigelUnopposedNorth East RandUnopposedNorth West Rand6,4954,7742911,29813,11886.13Orange Grove5,3634,8466510,27412,59481.58Parktown5,1005,0156510,18012,45881.71Pietersburg6,2012,200588,45910,76678.57PotchefstroomUnopposedPretoria District6,7533,6668210,50112,64283.06Pretoria East9,1552,6228911,86616,11973.61Pretoria—Rissik6,1496,7134012,90214,62988.19Pretoria CentralUnopposedPretoria—Sunnyside7,5284,8012712,35615,52179.61Pretoria WestUnopposedPrinshofUnopposedRandfontein6,2273,2801209,62711,77281.78Roodepoort7,5323,2843610,85213,24581.93RosettenvilleUnopposedRustenburg5,8862,544408,47010,44881.07SoutpansbergUnopposedSpringsUnopposedStanderton5,3403,139588,53710,06684.81TurffonteinUnopposedVanderbijl ParkUnopposedVentersdorp6,5092,805559,36911,67780.23Vereeniging6,4654,7456011,27013,04386.41Von BrandisUnopposedWakketstroomUnopposedWaterbergUnopposedWestdene6,1672,137398,34311,85970.35WitbankUnopposedWolmaransstad6,6112,142208,77310,63382.51WonderboomUnopposedYeovilleUnopposed Source: Government Gazette 110 Notes References Category:General elections in South Africa South Africa General South Africa