1970 South African general election

1970 South African general election

← 1966 22 April 1970 1974 →
All 166 seats in the House of Assembly 84 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,161,234
Turnout	69.76% ( 0.88pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader B. J. Vorster De Villiers Graaff Jan Steytler Party National United Progressive Last election 58.31%, 126 seats 36.62%, 39 seats 3.05%, 1 seat Seats won 118 47 1 Seat change 8 8 Popular vote 822,034 553,280 51,742 Percentage 54.89% 36.94% 3.45% Swing 3.42pp 0.32pp 0.40pp
Prime Minister before election B. J. Vorster National Elected Prime Minister B. J. Vorster National

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President Paul Mashatile Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislature National Council of Provinces Chairperson Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza Leader of the Opposition John Hlophe
Judiciary Chief Justice Ray Zondo Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mahube Molemela 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 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1960 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality Municipalities (list)
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Naledi Pandor Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights National debt Political assassinations Protests Repression Social Welfare Taxation
Provincial politics Politics of the Eastern Cape Politics of the Free State Politics of Gauteng Politics of KwaZulu-Natal Politics of Limpopo Politics of Mpumalanga Politics of the Northern Cape Politics of North West Politics of the Western Cape
South Africa portal Other countries
v t e

External videos
AP Archive report about the election, YouTube video

General elections were held in South Africa on 22 April 1970 to elect members of the 166-seat House of Assembly. Parliament was dissolved on 2 March and the deadline for the submission of candidates was 13 March.

The elections marked the first time since the formation of South African in 1910 that the House of Assembly would be responsible solely to White South Africans, as the seats for the four MPs elected separately by "qualified" Cape Coloured voters expired in the same year, completing the process of political apartheid. They were also the first elections after the 1969 expulsion of Albert Hertzog and many verkrampte (hardline) representatives from the ruling National Party (NP), who had subsequently formed the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP). This realignment marked a new chapter in the political divisions of the country, with the hardline Afrikaner right-wing later forming the Conservative Party in the early 1980s.

The elections resulted in the NP retained its large majority, reaffirming it as the dominant party for the post-Verwoerd era. Several new representatives were elected, including Chris Heunis, future Acting President and candidate for the NP leadership, and Pik Botha, future Minister of Foreign Affairs (1977–1994). However, the NP lost seats for the first time since the 1948 election, seeing its representation reduced by eight seats. With Hertzog's HNP failing to win a seat, the split in the nationalist vote benefitted the moderate United Party (UP) in several constituencies, invigorating it for perhaps the last time. Helen Suzman, member for Houghton, retained her seat in Johannesburg as the sole representative of the liberal Progressive Party, the last parliament for which she would sit for her caucus alone. Colin Eglin, who became leader of the Progressive Party in 1971, was defeated in the Cape Town seat of Sea Point by only 231 votes.