South African general election, 1961

← 1958

18 October 1961 (1961-10-18)

1966 →

All 156 general roll seats in the House of Assembly

	First party	Second party

Leader	Hendrik Verwoerd	De Villiers Graaff
Party	National Party	United
Last election	103 seats	53 seats
Seats won	105	49
Seat change	2	4
Popular vote	370,395	288,217
Percentage	46.11%	35.88%
Swing	9.23%	7.69%

House of Assembly after the election

Prime Minister before election

Hendrik Verwoerd
National Party

Elected Prime Minister

Hendrik Verwoerd
National Party

The 1961 South African general election, held on 18 October of that year, was the first general election after South Africa became a republic following the 1960 South African referendum. The National Party under Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd won a majority in the House of Assembly.

The National Union Party - led by J.D. du P. Basson and ex-Chief Justice Fagan in alliance with the United Party - had been formed as a "bridge" to the United Party for moderate nationalists who were unhappy with Verwoerd's leadership, but the party failed and later merged with the United Party.

This election also saw the first general election appearance of the liberal Progressive Party, which had broken away from the United Party in 1959. The new party retained one MP, in the form of Helen Suzman. She was to remain its sole parliamentary representative until 1974.

During the previous Parliament the seats of the three MPs and four Senators representing black South Africans had been abolished. The 1961 election produced the first Parliament with no representation at all for black South Africans.

The second election for the four coloured representative members took place on 4 October 1961, before the (white voters only) general election on 18 October 1961. Under the Separate Representation of Voters Act 1951, the members were to serve until the dissolution of the new Parliament.

The four seats were won by Independents, with United Party support. The recently formed Progressive Party did not contest the four vacancies.

This was the first election after the passage of the Electoral Law Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1958, which reduced the voting age for white voters from 21 to 18.

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Wikipedia