General elections were held in South Africa on 18 October 1961. They were the first general elections after South Africa became a republic following the 1960 South African referendum. The National Party (NP) under H. F. Verwoerd won a majority in the House of Assembly.

The National Union Party, led by Japie Basson and ex-Chief Justice Henry Allan Fagan in alliance with the United Party, had been formed as a "bridge" to the United Party by disgrunted ex-Nationalists who were unhappy with Verwoerd's leadership, aiming at the National, Afrikaner electorate. With the exception of the constituency of Bezuidenhout, won by Basson in a landslide, the party failed and later merged with the United Party.

The elections 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. Only White South Africans were allowed to vote, as non-whites had last taken part in a general election in 1953. The voting age for whites was also lowered from 21 to 18, yet turnout in this herrenvolk democracy was only around 44%, which was 29.81 percentage points lower than the previous election.

Changes in franchise End of black representation

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.

Coloured Representative Members

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.

Reduction in voting age

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.

Delimitation of electoral divisions

The South Africa Act 1909 had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division, for general roll voters in the four provinces. The representation by province, under the eleventh delimitation report of 1958, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1953) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.

This was only the second general election, in South African history, where the boundaries were unchanged from the previous election.

Provinces Cape Natal Orange Free State Transvaal Total Divisions 52 (54) 16 (15) 14 (13) 68 150

Composition at dissolution At the end of the 12th Parliament elected since the Union of 1910, when it was dissolved in 1961, the House of Assembly consisted of two groups of members. White voters were represented by 156 general roll members and coloured voters in Cape Province by four white MPs known at the time as Coloured Representative Members (CRM).

The general election only affected the representatives of white voters. The other members were elected on a different date (see above).

The representation by party and province, at the dissolution was:

Province National United Progressive National Union CRM Total Cape (general) 33 14 5 - - 52 Cape (CRM) - - - - 4 4 Natal 2 11 3 - - 16 Orange Free State 14 - - - - 14 South-West Africa 5 - - 1 - 6 Transvaal 48 17 3 - - 68 Total 102 42 11 1 4 160

Results

A total of 70 seats were uncontested, of which 50 were won by the National Party and 20 by the United Party.

By province

Province National United Progressive National Union Independents TotalCape (general)341800052Cape (CRM)000044Natal21400016Orange Free State14000014South-West Africa600006Transvaal491711068Total10549114160

By electoral division

ProvinceConstituencyNationalUnitedNationalUnionProgressiveConservativeWorkers'LiberalIndependentInvalid/blankTotalRegisteredvotersTurnoutCape of Good HopeAlbany6,0691,175647,30811,52163.43Aliwal5,1483,767608,9759,67992.73Beaufort WestUnopposedBellville8,2743,9957112,34014,95382.53CeresUnopposedConstantia7,6531,115438,81113,49965.27CradockUnopposedDe Aar—ColesbergUnopposedFort Beaufort4,9623,597418,6009,38891.61George7,6241,379506459,55410,96787.12GordoniaUnopposedGraaff-ReinetUnopposedGreen PointUnopposedHottentots-Holland5,8064,2644910,11910,92692.61Humansdorp5,9793,154209,15310,41487.89Cape Town GardensUnopposedKimberley North6,5664,0047110,64112,21387.13Kimberley South6,3594,9254311,32712,62989.69King William’s TownUnopposedKurumanUnopposedMaitland4,6101,6883,7032710,02812,33681.29MalmesburyUnopposedMoorreesburgUnopposedMossel BayUnopposedNamakwalandUnopposedEast London North6,1582,519588,73512,98467.28East London City6,0531,277407,37012,30459.90OudtshoornUnopposedPaarl7,2722,8933610,20111,67687.37ParowUnopposedPinelands6,4332,881689,38212,73073.70PiketbergUnopposedPort Elizabeth North6,7633,9952910,78713,84277.93Port Elizabeth CentralUnopposedPort Elizabeth South5,8963,166749,13613,18969.27Port Elizabeth WestUnopposedPrieska5,0593,244408,3439,10091.68Queenstown5,7065,3377811,12111,44097.21RondeboschUnopposedSea Point6,1993,428539,68012,99774.48Simonstown6,2441,612607,91613,07160.56Somerset EastUnopposedSalt River4,6702,190566,91610,75764.29Stellenbosch7,4652,5567214310,78513,24781.41Swellendam5,5523,762619,37510,27791.22Transkeian TerritoriesUnopposedUitenhageUnopposedFalse Bay6,7313,7815710,56912,75082.89VascoUnopposedVryburgUnopposedWorcester6,8323,1755610,06311,42488.09Wynberg6,3111,911188,24011,40272.27NatalDrakensbergUnopposedDurban—Berea5,4514,5685810,07712,98677.60Durban—Musgrave5,1814,222339,43612,57575.04Durban North6,1673,9919110,24913,46376.13Durban PointUnopposedDurban Central5,349504435,89612,16748.46Durban-UmbiloUnopposedDurban UmlaziUnopposedNatal South Coast4,9562,3671151047,54210,16474.20Newcastle5,9193,646659,63011,12386.58Pietermaritzburg District4,0143,839837,93611,48869.08Pietermaritzburg City3,9153,2821297,32613,62153.78Pinetown5,0323,064798,17511,50671.05UmhlatuzanaUnopposedVryheid5,5552,8041098,4689,76886.69Zululand4,2005,8561045510,21511,73887.03Orange Free StateBethlehemUnopposedBloemfontein DistrictUnopposedBloemfontein East7,4853,2011610,70214,83072.16Bloemfontein West8,0763,6451611,73714,67879.96Fauresmith—BoshofUnopposedHarrismithUnopposedHeilbronUnopposedKroonstad7,5241,837659,42611,13384.67LadybrandUnopposedOdendaalsrus7,7972,3044910,15013,44575.49SmithfieldUnopposedVredefortUnopposedWelkom8,2173,8903212,13915,90476.33WinburgUnopposedSouth-West AfricaEtoshaUnopposedKaras2,9542,113265,0935,72289.01Middelland3,2642,135405,4396,56082.91NamibUnopposedOmaruruUnopposedWindhoek3,7092,608746,3918,02179.68TransvaalAlberton7,0992,094299,22213,42968.67Benoni3,9571,293525,30212,11243.77Bethal-Middelburg5,7572,521518,32910,21681.53Bezuidenhout1,9836,507268,51611,83971.93Boksburg6,9205,4133512,36814,05188.02Brakpan6,1583,629969,88312,55978.69BritsUnopposedChristiana6,4382,322518,81110,01587.98Edenvale6,5093,8122910,35013,78175.10Ermelo5,5202,811718,4029,92684.65Florida4,4736,4072810,90812,75085.55Geduld7,0063,5763310,61513,92276.25Germiston6,2392,053318,32311,01575.56Germiston District3,6756,6912210,38813,36277.74GroblersdalUnopposedHeidelbergUnopposedHerculesUnopposedHillbrow5,5641,346456,95512,69054.81Hospital4,799992305,82110,87753.52Houghton4,8415,4056910,31512,77180.77InnesdalUnopposedJeppesUnopposedJohannesburg North5,4134,5416710,02113,24575.66Kempton ParkUnopposedKensingtonUnopposedKlerksdorp8,9123,2261083312,27915,70578.19Krugersdorp6,0233,831479,90112,55578.86Langlaagte5,8912,325588,27411,84469.86LichtenburgUnopposedLosbergUnopposedLydenburg—Barberton5,3262,849798,2549,75884.59MaraisburgUnopposedMarico5,4292,390547,8739,06186.89Mayfair5,4312,039347,50411,17667.14Nelspruit5,7903,059378,88610,56484.12NigelUnopposedNorth East RandUnopposedNorth West Rand6,4954,7742911,29813,11886.13Orange Grove5,3634,8466510,27412,59481.58Parktown5,1005,0156510,18012,45881.71Pietersburg6,2012,200588,45910,76678.57PotchefstroomUnopposedPretoria District6,7533,6668210,50112,64283.06Pretoria East9,1552,6228911,86616,11973.61Pretoria—Rissik6,1496,7134012,90214,62988.19Pretoria CentralUnopposedPretoria—Sunnyside7,5284,8012712,35615,52179.61Pretoria WestUnopposedPrinshofUnopposedRandfontein6,2273,2801209,62711,77281.78Roodepoort7,5323,2843610,85213,24581.93RosettenvilleUnopposedRustenburg5,8862,544408,47010,44881.07SoutpansbergUnopposedSpringsUnopposedStanderton5,3403,139588,53710,06684.81TurffonteinUnopposedVanderbijl ParkUnopposedVentersdorp6,5092,805559,36911,67780.23Vereeniging6,4654,7456011,27013,04386.41Von BrandisUnopposedWakketstroomUnopposedWaterbergUnopposedWestdene6,1672,137398,34311,85970.35WitbankUnopposedWolmaransstad6,6112,142208,77310,63382.51WonderboomUnopposedYeovilleUnopposed Source: Government Gazette 110

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