1948 Southern Rhodesian general election

May 2013 July 2024 February 2024 none 1948 Southern Rhodesian general election Southern Rhodesia 1946 1954 1948 09 15 All 30 seats in the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly 16 73.51% ( 6.0 pp) yes United Rhodesia Party 56.33 24 13 Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party 30.48 5 12 Rhodesia Labour Party Rhodesia Labour Party 13.01 1 3 File:Composition of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly 1948.svg 200px Composition of the Legislative Assembly after the election Prime Minister Prime Minister after election Godfrey Huggins Godfrey Huggins in 1936.jpg United Party Godfrey Huggins Godfrey Huggins in 1936.jpg United Party General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 15 September 1948. They saw Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins regain the overall majority he had lost in the previous elections in 1946. Huggins' United Party won a landslide, reducing the opposition Liberal Party to a small minority. Background The 1946 election had left the United Party in a precarious position in an overall minority in the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly, and reliant on the support of the Rhodesia Labour Party. Huggins was therefore seeking an opportunity to re-establish an overall majority. However, Huggins knew from his experience in 1934 that he needed to justify asking for a dissolution of the Assembly and a general election, as the Governor was not necessarily willing to grant one merely because it had been asked for. Early in 1948, Huggins made his move by proposing that his own United Party merge with the opposition Liberal Party (which was a right-wing organisation). He then went to the Legislative Assembly and put down a motion of confidence in his government which endorsed all its policies for the full term of the Assembly. The Liberal Party, sensing a trap, agreed to the principle of fusion of the two parties but insisted that it be on the basis of Liberal Party policy. When the vote of confidence debate was concluded on 6 February, Huggins accepted an amendment moved by the Rhodesia Labour Party, and the confidence motion then passed without a division. Huggins had lost his chance for an election but gained endorsement of his government. This situation did not last long. In July, the Coinage and Currency Bill was defeated by one vote on a clause which would have allowed the Currency Board to provide accommodation. Although this was a minor matter, Huggins argued that it was an issue of confidence because this provision had been agreed with the governments of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the Central African Council; as negotiations to form a new majority government failed, the Governor granted a dissolution. Supporting Huggins' position, the South African general election in May that year had seen a win by the National Party which largely represented Afrikaners. This election marked a transfer of power away from the English-speaking South Africans and shocked the mostly British descended Southern Rhodesians, who recoiled from the Liberal Party who were backed by the small Rhodesian Afrikaner community; the Liberal Party's policy on race was similar to the National Party's policy of Apartheid. Voters tended not to blame the government for the economic difficulties and petrol shortages which had affected Rhodesia in the years since the war, and the renewed push towards federation with Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland also encouraged support for the United Party. In the end, it delivered a landslide for Huggins; Liberal Party leader Jacob Smit lost his seat. Electoral system A Delimitation Commission was set up to redraw the boundaries of the electoral districts. Although the previous districts had only been drawn up in 1938, owing to the major population movements in the war none of the districts were unchanged. Franchise and electoral procedure Two Acts passed in the run-up to the election made changes to electoral procedure. The Emergency Laws (Repeal and Transitional Provisions) Act, 1946 repealed most of the Active Service Voters Act, 1943 and therefore removed the ability of Southern Rhodesians serving in forces outside the colony to vote. The provision allowing postal votes to those living more than 10 miles from the polling station was retained. The Electoral Amendment Act, 1946 made a further series of minor changes. It provided for a new full registration of voters once the delimitation had been completed, and facilitated the disqualification of imprisoned voters by requiring returns of those sentenced to prison. It also allowed candidates to withdraw before the poll. Results United Party 19731 24 +11 Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party 10678 5 –7 Rhodesia Labour Party 4558 1 –2 Dominion Party 61 0 New 0 138 47840 Willson By constituency DP – Dominion Party Lab – Rhodesia Labour Party L – Liberal Party UP – United Party ConstituencyElectorate and turnoutCandidatePartyVotesAVONDALE1,962 (80.0%)John Richard Dendy YoungUP1,021†Albert Rubidge Washington StumblesL548BULAWAYO CENTRAL1,658 (73.9%)†Donald MacIntyreUP762William Hives EastwoodLab327Peter Bawtree GibbsL147BULAWAYO DISTRICT1,411 (77.3%)Alexander Magnus Flett StuartUP647John Morrison MacdonaldL238Allan Watson WhittingtonLab205BULAWAYO EAST2,100 (81.7%)Robert Francis HalstedUP1,029Ian Donald MacGillivrayL398Leonard James PearlLab288BULAWAYO NORTH1,567 (73.0%)†Thomas Hugh William BeadleUP905Mrs. Ethel DaviesLab239BULAWAYO SOUTH1,657 (67.5%)Henry Alfred HolmesUP678†James Stuart McNeillieLab441CHARTER1,206 (66.8%)†Jacob Letterstedt SmitL513Thomas John Mangwe TilburyUP293EASTERN1,495 (66.2%)Tom Ian Findlay WilsonUP631†Aubrey William DunnL359GATOOMA1,204 (67.4%)†George MunroL412Graham Caldwell ElliottUP399GWELO1,638 (75.0%)Desmond William Lardner-BurkeUP626†Robert WilliamsonL518Friedrich Ferdinand Ludwig HeinLab84HARTLEY1,130 (70.1%)†Patrick Archibald WiseL406Ralph Drew PalmerUP386HIGHLANDS2,218 (77.4%)Robert Allan BallantyneUP937†Charles Arden BottL690William Rhodes EadesLab90HILLSIDE1,844 (82.0%)Julius Macdonald GreenfieldUP677†Harry Herbert DaviesLab570Olive Hope RobertsonL266LOMAGUNDI1,430 (73.7%)†George Henry HackwillUP653John ScottL401MARANDELLAS1,370 (71.6%)Neville Gwynne BarrettUP544William Thomas Edward FitzsimonsL437MAZOE1,267 (75.2%)John Moore CaldicottUP510Thomas Patrick Murray CochranL443QUE QUE1,382 (71.9%)†George Arthur DavenportUP559Thomas NangleLab269Henry William WattL165RAYLTON1,627 (65.8%)†Lawrence John Walter KellerLab615Alexander CockburnUP337Cecil Edward Mark MooreL119SALISBURY CENTRAL1,628 (68.9%)†Leslie Manfred Noel HodsonUP722David Symond RichardsL264George Arthur Henry RadfordLab135SALISBURY CITY1,729 (75.0%)Bevis Alexander BarkerUP765†Jacob Hendrik SmitL519Francis Michael NilanDP13SALISBURY DISTRICT2,076 (78.4%)†Leslie Major CullinanUP1,082William GrahamL545SALISBURY GARDENS1,587 (67.2%)Noel St. QuintonUP701Frank Henry Shepley WallerL259Charles OlleyLab107SALISBURY NORTH1,772 (76.8%)†Godfrey Martin HugginsUP1,024Hugh Volant WheelerL337SALISBURY SOUTH2,683 (74.5%)William Alexander Eustace WintertonUP1,095†Denzil Crichton PaulL713George Cyril Hamilton-BrowneLab143Stewart Edward Aitken-CadeDP48SELUKWE1,090 (68.5%)Ian Douglas SmithL361Egon Aage KlifborgLab258Petrus Johannes CilliersUP128SHABANI1,651 (69.2%)†Reginald Stephen Garfield ToddUP685Johannes Hendrik HofmeyrL458UMTALI1,914 (79.7%)†Edgar Cuthbert Fremantle WhiteheadUP766†James Brown ListerLab648George Washington ChaceL112VICTORIA1,436 (71.4%)†Raymond Osborne StockilL633Richard Charles EllisUP393WANKIE1,169 (62.4%)Humphrey Vicary GibbsUP376George Wilburn RudlandL204William James SwiftLab150WESTERN939 (65.3%)†Patrick Bissett FletcherUP400Michael Vernon RorkeL213 Changes during the Assembly Bulawayo District Alexander Magnus Flett Stuart died on 7 August 1949, and a byelection to replace him was held on 13 October 1949. ConstituencyCandidatePartyVotesBULAWAYO DISTRICTWilliam Hives EastwoodLab381John Morrison MacdonaldL351Peter George HewisonUP288Sydney Henderson MillarInd89 Bulawayo North Hugh Beadle resigned from the Assembly on 20 July 1950 to become a High Court judge. A byelection to fill his Assembly seat in Bulawayo North was held on 19 September 1950. ConstituencyElectorate and turnoutCandidatePartyVotesBULAWAYO NORTH1,925 (69.2%)Cyril James HattyUP507James Stuart McNeillieLab471Eric Ashdown SmartL354 Highlands Robert Allan Ballantyne died on 5 February 1953. A byelection to replace him was held on 22 April 1953. ConstituencyElectorate and turnoutCandidatePartyVotesHIGHLANDS2,334 (77.7%)William AddisonUP782Frederick Daniel John LaceyLab531Dickerson Colfax Byron-MooreRP501 References Source Book of Parliamentary Elections and Referenda in Southern Rhodesia 1898–1962 ed. by F.M.G. Willson (Department of Government, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury 1963) Holders of Administrative and Ministerial Office 1894–1964 by F.M.G. Willson and G.C. Passmore, assisted by Margaret T. Mitchell (Source Book No. 3, Department of Government, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury 1966) Category:Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe Southern Rhodesia General Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia