New National Party (South Africa)
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New National Party
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| Leader | Marthinus van Schalkwyk |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Dissolved | 2005 |
| Preceded by | National Party |
| Merged into | African National Congress |
| Ideology |
Conservatism, Afrikaner nationalism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
The New National Party (NNP) was a South African conservative political party formed in 1997 when the National Party pulled out of the Government of National Unity with the African National Congress (ANC) and decided to change its name in the process. The name change was an attempt to distance itself from its apartheid past, and reinvent itself as a moderate, non-racist federal party. The attempt was largely unsuccessful, and in 2005 the New National Party voted to disband itself.
The party's first leader was former president of South Africa F. W. de Klerk, the winner with Nelson Mandela of the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in dismantling apartheid. De Klerk was succeeded by Marthinus van Schalkwyk until the eventual disbanding and merger of the party with the African National Congress.
The New National Party had some difficulty carving out a political base in post-apartheid South Africa. On the one hand, it still had the legacy of its role under apartheid. On the other hand, it seemed uncertain about its relationship with the government led by the ANC and seemed unable to decide whether it was in a political alliance with the ANC or in opposition. These two issues led to defections to the Democratic Party, which had a historical legacy of being anti-apartheid and was clearly an opposition party to the ANC. It also lost support to other parties.
The NNP fared poorly in the general election of 1999. With 6.87% of the vote, the party lost votes both to the DP and ANC as well as its status as the official opposition nationally and in most provinces. But it remained influential in the Western Cape, despite being pushed into second place there by the ANC. The party faced comparatively smaller losses in the province due to the retention of most of its coloured support. 50% of its votes now came from this one province, and it was seemingly becoming a regional political force without much national significance. The party remained in power in the Western Cape through a coalition with the DP. It then began to plan a merger with the Democratic Party in 2000, for which purpose the DP changed name to Democratic Alliance (DA).
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