The Afrikaner Party (AP) was a South African political party from 1941 to 1951.

Origins

The Afrikaner Party's roots can be traced back to September 1939, when South Africa declared war on

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

shortly after the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The then Prime Minister J.B.M. Hertzog and his followers did not agree with this move and broke away from the United Party to form the

Volksparty The Volksparty (VP) (''People's Party'') was a short-lived South African political party from 1939 to 1941. In 1934 the coalition government of the National Party under J.B.M. Hertzog and the South African Party under Jan Smuts merged to form ...

(People's Party). The Volksparty later split: one faction joined the

Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party The Purified National Party ( af, Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party) was a break away from Hertzog's National Party which lasted from 1935 to 1948 In 1935 the main portion of the National Party, led by J. B. M. Hertzog, merged with the South African P ...

(Purified National Party) to form the

Herenigde Nasionale Party The Herenigde Nasionale Party (Reunited National Party) was a political party in South Africa during the 1940s. It was the product of the reunion of Daniel François Malan's Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party (Purified National Party) and J.B.M. Hert ...

(Re-united National Party) while the other faction became the Afrikaner Party under the leadership of N.C. Havenga.

Coalition

After the

1948 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa on 26 May 1948. They represented a turning point in the country's history, as despite receiving just under half of the votes cast, the United Party and its leader, incumbent Prime Minister Jan Smu ...

the Herenigde National Party and Afrikaner Party formed a coalition in order to achieve an absolute majority in parliament. The Afrikaner Party was very much the junior partner in this, however, and in 1951, the two parties amalgamated to become the National Party.

Election results

References

*Winkler Prins Encyclopedie 1955, deur: red. Winkler Prins. *Nuwe Geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika: T. Cameron. 1986, Human & Rousseau. {{Commons category, Afrikaner Party 1941 establishments in South Africa 1951 disestablishments in Africa Afrikaner nationalism Afrikaner organizations Boer nationalism Defunct political parties in South Africa Nationalist parties in South Africa Political parties disestablished in 1951 Political parties established in 1941 Political parties of minorities Protestant political parties Separatism in South Africa White nationalist parties