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 (1970-04-22)
All 166 seats in the House of Assembly
Turnout	74.35% ( 5.87pp)
First party Second party Third party   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

South Africa
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President David Mabuza Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislative National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise Leader of the Opposition John Steenhuisen
Judiciary Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mandisa Maya High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 1910 1915 1920 1921 1924 1929 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 1981 1984 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1960 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality Municipalities (list)
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Lindiwe Sisulu Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights Taxation Protests Repression Political assassinations
South Africa portal Other countries

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.