General elections were held in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

on 5 June 1958 for the seats in the

Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Rhodesia was the legislature of Southern Rhodesia and then Rhodesia from 1924 to 1970. Background In 1898, the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council, Southern Rhodesia's first elected representative body, was foun ...

. Although the

Dominion Party The Dominion Party was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, led by Winston Field. History The party was established in 1956 by a merger of several political groups and the remains of the Confederate Party, which had di ...

received the most votes, the result was a victory for the ruling

United Federal Party The United Federal Party (UFP) was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. History The UFP was formed in November 1957 by a merger of the Federal Party (Rhodesia and Nyasaland), Federal Party, which had operated at the fed ...

, which won 17 seats. The revived

United Rhodesia Party The United Rhodesia Party (URP) was a white-run political party in Southern Rhodesia. It was informally known as the United Party. The party first came to power in 1933 under Prime Minister Godfrey Huggins, who served until 1953. At this time, ...

under the leadership of former Prime Minister Sir

Garfield Todd Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (13 July 1908 – 13 October 2002) was a liberal Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia. Background Todd was born in Invercargill ...

failed to win a single seat.Obituary: Sir Garfield Todd
The Guardian, 14 October 2002

Electoral system

The thirty members of the Legislative Assembly were elected from single-member constituencies by

alternative vote Instant-runoff voting (IRV; ranked-choice voting (RCV), preferential voting, alternative vote) is a single-winner ranked voting election system where one or more eliminations are used to simulate runoff elections. When no candidate has a ...

, with voters able to list candidates in order of preference. This replaced the

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

system used in previous elections. The elections were held using a restrictive franchise, which was divided into 'ordinary' voters and 'special' voters, although both voted for the same set of candidates. Ordinary voters were required to have a minimum income of £720 per annum or be literate and own £1,500 of property, or have a minimum income of £480, own £1,000 of property and have completed primary education, or have a minimum income of £300 (or own £500 of property) and have completed four years of secondary education. The special voter category was a new concept introduced for the 1958 elections, with a lower requirement of having an income of at least £240 a year and being literate, or having had an income of £120 a year for two years and having completed two years of secondary education. However, the number special voters was capped at one-sixth of the electoral roll in each constituency. If the number of special voters exceeded one-sixth of the electorate, the number of votes cast by special voters was devalued by an amount that would result in their votes equalling one-sixth of those cast. The restrictions meant that out of a population of around 2.3 million, only 3,000 Africans qualified to vote (1,500 as ordinary voters and 1,500 as special voters). Many of the 178,000 Europeans in the territory were unable to vote as they were not British citizens, but 74,000 qualified as ordinary voters and 1,500 as special voters. From a population of 13,000 Asian and mixed-race residents, 1,500 qualified as ordinary voters and 8,000 as special voters. Overall, 88,000 people were qualified to vote from a population of around 2.5 million.

Results

Had the alternative vote system not been introduced, the Dominion Party would have won the elections with 17 of the 30 seats. However, when preferences were taken into account, it won only 13.

References

{{Zimbabwean elections

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Elections in Southern Rhodesia