1970 South African general election

1970 South African general election

22 April 1970
All 166 seats in the House of Assembly 84 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,161,234
Turnout	69.76% ( 0.88pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader B. J. Vorster De Villiers Graaff Jan Steytler Party National United Progressive Last election 58.31%, 126 seats 36.62%, 39 seats 3.05%, 1 seat Seats won 118 47 1 Seat change 8 8 Popular vote 822,034 553,280 51,742 Percentage 54.89% 36.94% 3.45% Swing 3.42pp 0.32pp 0.40pp
Prime Minister before election B. J. Vorster National Elected Prime Minister B. J. Vorster National

External videos
AP Archive report about the election, YouTube video

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 in Johannesburg as the sole representative of the liberal Progressive Party, the last parliament for which she would sit for her caucus alone. Colin Eglin, who became leader of the Progressive Party in 1971, was defeated in the Cape Town seat of Sea Point by only 231 votes.

Electoral system

The members of the House of Assembly were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting. The Senate consisted of 53 members: 41 elected by the electoral colleges (members of the Assembly and the members of the Provincial Council) of the country's four provinces (16 for the Transvaal, 11 for the Cape Province, and 8 each for the Orange Free State and Natal) and 8 appointed by the State President (2 for each province, plus 2 for South West Africa).

Results

House of Assembly

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.

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

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.