South African general election, 1921

8 February 1921 (1921-02-08)

All 134 seats in the House of Assembly

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Jan Smuts	J. B. M. Hertzog	F. H. P. Creswell
Party	South African	National	Labour
Last election	41 seats	44 seats	21 seats
Seats won	79	45	9
Seat change	38	1	12
Popular vote	137,389	105,039	39,406
Percentage	48.17%	36.83%	13.82%
Swing	+11.69%	+4.21%	-0.82%

Prime Minister before election

Jan Smuts
South African

Elected Prime Minister

Jan Smuts
South African

South Africa
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Government
Executive President Jacob Zuma Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa Cabinet Shadow Cabinet
Legislative National Council of Provinces Chairperson: Thandi Modise National Assembly Speaker: Baleka Mbete Leader of the Opposition National Helen Zille Parliamentary Mmusi Maimane
Judiciary Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Lex Mpati High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 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 2000 2006 2011 2016 Referenda 1960 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality Municipalities (list)
Foreign relations
Related topics Human rights Taxation Protests Repression Political Assassinations
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

The 1921 South African general election was held for the 134 seats in the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, on 8 February 1921.^[1] The South African Party, which since the previous election had fused with the Unionist Party, won an absolute majority.

Delimitation of electoral divisions

The South Africa Act 1909 had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division. The representation by province, under the third delimitation report of 1919, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1913) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.^[2]

The electoral divisions used for this general election were the same as those for the 1920 election.

Provinces	Cape	Natal	Orange Free State	Transvaal	Total
Divisions	51	17	17	49 (45)	134 (130)

Results

The vote totals in the table below may not give a complete picture of the balance of political opinion, because of unopposed elections (where no votes were cast) and because contested seats may not have been fought by a candidate from all major parties.

The total registered electorate was 499,531. The votes cast were 277,742 (no figure for spoilt votes at this election is available).^[3]

Party	Seats^[4]	Seats %	Votes^[5]	Votes %	Leader
South African	79	58.96	137,389	48.17	General Jan Smuts
National	45	33.58	105,039	36.83	General J. B. M. Hertzog
Labour	9	6.72	39,406	13.82	Colonel F. H. P. Creswell
Independent	1	0.75	3,385	1.19	-
Total	134

References

South Africa 1982: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, published by Chris van Rensburg Publications

↑ The Times, edition of 7 February 1921, page 11 confirms the election date
↑ South Africa 1982, page 129
↑ South Africa 1982, page 176
↑ South Africa 1982, page 174 (seats by party)
↑ South Africa 1982, page 176 (votes by party)

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

Referendums	1960 1983 1992

See also: Elections and referendums in the Boer republics and South African colonies Elections and referendums in South African Bantustans

1921 in South Africa