New National Party (South Africa)

New National Party
Nuwe Nasionale Party (Afrikaans)
AbbreviationNNP
LeaderMarthinus van Schalkwyk
Founded8 September 1997 (1997-09-08)
Dissolved9 April 2005 (2005-04-09)
Preceded byNational Party
Merged intoAfrican National Congress
IdeologyNationalism
Conservatism
Christian democracy
Conservative liberalism
Non-racialism
Political positionCentre-right
Party flag

The New National Party (NNP) was a South African political party formed in 1997 as the successor to the National Party, which ruled the country from 1948 to 1994. The name change was an attempt to distance itself from its apartheid past, and reinvent itself as a moderate, mainstream conservative and non-racist federal party. The attempt was largely unsuccessful, and in 2005 the New National Party voted to disband itself.