National Party (South Africa)
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National Party of South Africa
Nasionale Party van Suid-Afrika |
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| Leader | First: J. B. M. Hertzog Last: F. W. de Klerk |
| Founded | 2 July 1915 |
| Dissolved | 1997 |
| Merged into | United Party (between 1934 and 1939) |
| Succeeded by | New National Party (1997–2005) |
| Headquarters | Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa |
| Ideology |
Racial segregation (until 1989) White nationalism National conservatism Social conservatism Republicanism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Party flag | |
 NP party flag from 1936 to 1993  NP party flag from 1993 to 1997 |
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The National Party (Afrikaans: Nasionale Party) was a political party in South Africa founded in 1915 and first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It was in opposition during the World War II years but returned to power and was again in government from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. At this time, it began implementing its policy of racial segregation, known as 'apartheid'. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. The policies of the party included apartheid, the establishment of a republic, and the promotion of Afrikaner culture.
During the 1980s, large fractions of the party's support base left for the Conservative Party, unhappy about the party's gradual dismantling of the Apartheid system. After 1990, the NP opened up its membership to all race groups and rebranded itself as a non-racial, conservative political force. It participated in the Government of National Unity between 1994 and 1996.
In an attempt to better distance itself from its past, the party was renamed the New National Party in 1997. The attempt was largely unsuccessful and the new party was disbanded in 2005.
The National Party was founded in Bloemfontein in 1915 by Afrikaner nationalists soon after the establishment of the Union of South Africa. Its founding was rooted in disagreements among South African Party politicians, particularly Prime Minister Louis Botha and his first Minister of Justice, J.B.M. Hertzog. After Hertzog began speaking out publicly against the Botha government's "one-stream" policy in 1912, Botha removed him from the cabinet. Hertzog and his followers in the Orange Free State province subsequently moved to establish the National Party to oppose the government by advocating a "two-stream" policy of equal rights for the English and Afrikaner communities. Afrikaner nationalists in the Transvaal and Cape provinces soon followed suit, so that three distinct provincial NP organisations were in existence in time for the 1915 general elections.
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