General elections were held in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

on 6 September 1989, the last under

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

Snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

s had been called early (no election was required until 1992) by the recently elected head of the National Party (NP), F. W. de Klerk, who was in the process of replacing

P. W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...

as the country's president, and his expected program of reform to include further retreat from the policy of apartheid. The creation of the Conservative Party had realigned the NP as a moderate party, now almost certain to initiate negotiations with the black opposition, with liberal opposition (the PFP) openly seeking a new constitutional settlement on

liberal democratic Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into di ...

and federalist principles. Although the National Party won a comfortable majority of seats (94 of 166) in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

, the governing party suffered a setback and received only 48% of the popular vote, the first elections since 1961 in which the NP failed to win a majority of the vote. However, the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system, and a severely fractured opposition as well as the twelve appointed and indirectly elected members entrenched the NP's majority, allowing it to comfortably remain in power. The Conservative Party (CP), which opposed any form of power-sharing with other races, failed to accomplish a breakthrough beyond its conservative Afrikaner backing as some had expected, but remained the official opposition with 39 seats. By some estimates, the party had received the backing of a slim majority of Afrikaners particularly in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

, once the NP's heartland, but with very limited support among English-speaking voters.'' The Star'', 24 May 1987 Before the elections, the liberal

Progressive Federal Party The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) ( af, Progressiewe Federale Party) was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For it ...

(PFP) had dissolved itself and regrouped as the Democratic Party (DP), winning 33 seats, six seats short of retaking its position as the official opposition. In terms of vote share, it fell a quarter million votes behind the CP, but was favoured by its stronghold in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

and

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

House of Assembly (white)

The White Chamber of Parliament had 178 members, 166 of whom were directly elected (including a seat from

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The ci ...

annexed from

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

, which was added in 1981) with 8 members indirectly elected by the directly elected members on the basis of proportional representation and four nominated by the State President (one from each province).1981 House of Assembly Election
African Elections Database The results of the election were interpreted by the government (based on support for the NP and the DP together) as a mandate from the white electorate to reform the apartheid system and seek a compromise with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

and its leader Nelson Mandela. Mandela was released half a year later, and the 1989 elections were the last under the limited, whites-only franchise and the

Tricameral Parliament The Tricameral Parliament, officially the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, was the legislature of South Africa between 1984 and 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983, which gave a limited political voice to ...

introduced in 1984. Of the twelve appointed and indirectly-elected seats, nine were taken by the National Party, two by the Conservative Party and one by the Democratic Party.South Africa: Parliamentary Chamber: House of Assembly: Elections held in 1989
Inter-Parliamentary Union

House of Representatives (coloured)

All five appointed and indirectly-elected seats were taken by the Labour Party.

House of Delegates (Indian)

Of the five appointed and indirectly-elected seats, three were taken by Solidarity, one by the National People’s Party and one by the Merit People's Party.

References

{{South African elections General elections in South Africa Events associated with apartheid

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...