South African general election, 1989

South African general election, 1989

6 September 1989 (1989-09-06)

All 166 elected seats in the House of Assembly All 80 elected seats in the House of Representatives All 40 elected seats in the House of Delegates   First party Second party Third party   Leader F. W. de Klerk Andries Treurnicht Zach de Beer (pictured), Denis Worrall and Wynand Malan Party National Conservative Democratic Party Last election 123 22 19 Seats won 94 39 33 Seat change 29 17 14

Acting State President before election F. W. de Klerk National State President F. W. de Klerk National

The 1989 South African general election, held on 6 September of that year, was South Africa's last national race-based parliamentary election. The election was called early (no election was required until 1992) to gauge support for the recently elected head of the National Party, F. W. de Klerk (who was in the process of replacing P. W. Botha as the country's president) and his program of reform, which was to include further retreat from the policy of apartheid.

Although it still won an absolute majority, the National Party suffered an electoral setback, winning only 48% of the popular vote and 103 of the seats in the House of Assembly.

The official opposition Conservative Party (CP), who opposed any form of powersharing with other race groups, remained the official opposition with 41 seats and gained 31% of the votes.

Before the elections the liberal Progressive Federal Party (PFP) had dissolved itself and regrouped as the Democratic Party (DP), which went on to take 34 seats.

House of Assembly (White)

The White Chamber of Parliament had 178 members, 166 of whom were directly elected (including a seat from Walvis Bay, which was added in 1981) with 8 Members indirectly elected by the directly elected members on the basis of proportional representation and 4 nominated by the State President (one from each province).^[1]

The results of the election were interpreted by the government (based on support for the NP and the DP together) as a mandate from the white electorate to forsake the apartheid system and seek a compromise with the African National Congress and its leader Nelson Mandela.

House of Representatives (Coloured)

House of Delegates (Indian)

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 Referendums 1960 1983 1992 See also: Elections and referendums in the Boer republics and South African colonies Elections and referendums in South African Bantustans