South African general election, 1981

South African general election, 1981

29 April 1981

All 165 elected seats in the House of Assembly   First party Second party   Leader P. W. Botha Frederik van Zyl Slabbert Party National Party Progressive Federal Last election 134 17 Seats won 131 26 Seat change 3 9

Prime Minister before election P. W. Botha National Party Elected Prime Minister P. W. Botha National Party

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During the 1981 South African general election, held on 29 April of that year, the National Party, under the leadership of P. W. Botha since 1978, lost some support, but achieved another landslide victory, winning 131 of 165 directly-elected seats in the House of Assembly.^[1]

Its membership now included 12 additional members, of whom four were appointed by the State President and eight were elected by the directly elected members.^[2]

The elected additional members were chosen by means of proportional representation, by means of the single transferable vote.^[1]

Meanwhile, the Progressive Federal Party – led since 1979 by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, an Afrikaner – increased its representation to 26 seats, thereby consolidating its position as the official opposition.

The Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP), which represented right-wing Afrikaner conservatives, received 14.1% of the popular vote but did not gain any seats.^[1]

Results

Constitutional changes

The 1981 election was the first since the abolition of the Senate that year, the House of Assembly had become the sole chamber of Parliament.^[3] It was also the last to be held under the then 1961 Constitution, under which South Africa had become a republic, while retaining a Westminster-style parliamentary system.

References

Elections and referendums in South Africa
General elections	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
Municipal elections	1995–96 2000 2006 2011 2016
Referendums	1960 1983 1992
See also: Elections and referendums in the Boer republics and South African colonies Elections and referendums in South African Bantustans