1989 South African general election

General elections were held in South Africa on 6 September 1989, the last under apartheid. The elections were called early (no election was required until 1992) to gauge support for the recently elected head of the National Party (NP), F. W. de Klerk, who was in the process of replacing P. W. Botha as the country's president, and the new leader's program of reform to include further retreat from the policy of apartheid. The advent of the Conservative Party had realigned the NP as the moderate party, expected to initiate negotiations with the Black opposition, with the liberal opposition openly seeking a new settlement.

1989 South African general election

6 September 1989
All 166 elected seats in the House of Assembly All 80 elected seats in the House of Representatives All 40 elected seats in the House of Delegates
Turnout	69.5%
First party Second party Third party   Leader F. W. de Klerk Andries Treurnicht Zach de Beer (pictured), Denis Worrall and Wynand Malan Party National Conservative DP Leader since 1989 1982 1989 Leader's seat Vereeniging Waterberg Did not stand Last election 123 22 20 Seats won 94 39 33 Seat change 29 17 13 Popular vote 1,039,704 680,131 431,444 Percentage 48.2% 31.5% 20.0%
House of Assembly after the 1989 election
Acting State President before election F. W. de Klerk National State President F. W. de Klerk National

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Although it won an absolute majority, the National Party suffered an electoral setback and received only 48% of the popular vote, winning 94 of the 166 directly-elected seats in the House of Assembly. It was the first election since 1961 when it failed to win a majority of the (white) popular vote. However, the first-past-the-post voting system and a deeply fractured opposition allowed it to comfortably remain in power. Another 12 MPs were appointed by the State President and the 166 elected members, further entrenching the NP's majority.

The Conservative Party (CP), which opposed any form of power-sharing with other races, failed to accomplish a breakthrough but remained the official opposition with 39 seats. By some estimates, the party had received the backing of a slim majority of Afrikaner voters in parts of the country, once the NP's core constituency, but with very little support among English-speaking whites.[1]

Before the elections, the liberal Progressive Federal Party (PFP) had dissolved itself and regrouped as the Democratic Party (DP), winning 33 seats, six seats short of regaining its position as the official opoposition.