14 June 1929 – National Party Wins South African Election on Race
Saturday June 14, 2008
General JBM Hertzog's National Party (NP) wins the South African general election with an outright majority. Race plays a critical role for the first time in SA politics. Hertzog accused Smuts' party of supporting racial equality, and represented a Nationalist vote as a vote for a "White South Africa”. This was the NP's second consecutive win, though the 1924 election resulted in the Pact government.
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Ironically Hertzog’s National Party did not win with a majority of VOTES. The majority of VOTES went to Smut’s United Party. However, the National Party won because they obtained the mosts SEATS in Parliament.
Smuts’ United Party obtained 49% of the VOTES in the election (524,230), whilst the NP obtained 46% of the VOTES (443,719). However, the NP obtained 79 SEATS and the UP 65 SEATS. The total number of SEATS in the SA Parliament in 1948: 150.
This posting is about the election in 1929 when the Nats won an outright majority following the ‘black peril’ election. (And Smuts was leader of the South African Party at that time.)