1970 South African general election

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. This was the first time in South African history that the House elected was responsible entirely to white people, as the seats of the four MPs elected separately by "qualified" Cape Coloured voters expired in the same year, heralding the completion of the process of political apartheid. Similarly, it was the first election after the expulsion of Albert Hertzog and many verkrampte (hardline) representatives from the ruling National Party in 1969, who formed the new opposition Herstigte Nasionale Party (Reconstituted National Party) in opposition, with limited success.

1970 South African general election

22 April 1970
All 166 seats in the House of Assembly
Turnout	74.35% ( 5.87pp)
PP Leader B. J. Vorster De Villiers Graaff Jan Steytler Party National United Progressive Last election 126 seats, 58.31% 39 seats, 36.62% 1 seat, 3.05% 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

The National Party (NP) won another election, for the first time under the leadership of John Vorster. Several new representatives were elected, including Chris Heunis, future Acting President and Pik Botha, future Minister of Foreign Affairs for 17 years, who made his maiden speech demanding that the government sign the UN Declaration of Human Rights.[1]

Given the split with both liberal camps and arch-conservative NP supporters, the government lost support in parliament for the first time since the 1948 election, its caucus being reduced by eight seats. While Hertzog's HNP did not win any seats, the split in the nationalist voter base benefitted the moderate United Party (UP) in some constituencies. On an ideological spectrum, the HNP (using the NP:s old acronym from the 1940s) was a psychological and cultural loss, with stalwart Afrikaner leader and NP founder JBM Hertzog's son denouncing the government for becoming bloated and moderate and having abandoned the goals of the Afrikaner nationalist movement in favour of economic and diplomatic realities. The result thus marked a realignment, with white voters jointly backing a moderate NP with a considerable majority, while the restoration of an Afrikaner homeland was abandoned as unachievable and anachronistic.

Following decolonisation, now burgeoning, Vorster attempted to pursue a policy of peaceful coexistence between the white minority government and Black independent neighbours (in 1970 only Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland) as well as the greatest possible solidarity between Anglophone Whites and Boers, seen as pragmatic and antithetical to the goals of NP stalwarts of creating an Afrikaans-language republic for the Boers and their descendants, with other whites as (comparatively) privileged resident citizens, but outside the boundaries of the "chosen" people.

Helen Suzman, member of parliament for Houghton, retained her seat as the sole representative of the liberal Progressive Party.

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.[2]

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[3]

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 October 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. South Africa Inter-Parliamentary Union
3. Dirk J. Potgieter (1971) Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Volume 4, p273