General elections were held in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 30 March 1966. The result was another comprehensive victory for the National Party under H. F. Verwoerd. The election marked a major strengthening of power for the ruling NP, which gained a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time. The main opposition United Party slightly increased its share of the popular vote, but nevertheless saw its parliamentary representation considerably reduced. The number of

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 g ...

seats for White voters in South Africa had been increased from 150 to 160 by the Constitution Amendment Act of 1965. In addition, there were six seats for White voters from

South-West Africa South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered Angola ( a Portu ...

(now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

). There were also four seats reserved for

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

representatives, who did not have to stand for re-election during 1966. On 6 September, several months after the elections, Prime Minister Verwoerd was assassinated.

Coloured Representative Members

The second election for the four coloured representative members had taken place on 4 October 1961, before the (white voters only) general election on 8 October 1961. Under the Separate Representation of Voters Act 1951, the members had been elected to serve until the dissolution of the 1961–1966 parliament. The Progressive Party (PP) won the two seats representing coloured voters on the

Cape Provincial Council The Cape Provincial Council was the provincial council (South Africa), provincial council of the Cape Province of South Africa. It was created by the South Africa Act 1909, with effect from the formation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910 ...

, at an election in 1965. The National Party (NP) government became concerned at the prospect of four additional Progressive MPs being elected. The opposition United Party (UP) also feared the loss of support, if the existing four UP supported independent members were defeated. Parliament passed the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act 1965. This legislation extended the term of the existing coloured representatives until October 1966. Further Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Acts, in 1966 and 1968, extended the term until the dissolution of what turned out to be the 1966–1970 Parliament. The coloured representation in Parliament would then be abolished.

Delimitation of electoral divisions

The

South Africa Act 1909 The South Africa Act 1909 (9 Edw. 7. c. 9) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Orange River Colony, Orange ...

had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division, for general roll voters in the four provinces. The republican constitution continued the arrangements for a commission. The representation by province, under the twelfth delimitation report of 1965, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1958) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged. South-West Africa (with six seats) and the coloured representatives (4 seats), were unaffected by the general delimitation provisions.

Composition at dissolution

The 13th Parliament since the Union of 1910 and the 1st elected after the republic was proclaimed in 1961, was dissolved in 1966. At the time the House of Assembly consisted of two groups of members. White voters were represented by 156 general roll members and coloured voters in Cape Province by four white MPs known at the time as Coloured Representative Members (CRM). The general election only affected the representatives of white voters. The other members were elected on a different date (see above). Since the previous election, the United Party had absorbed the National Union, with which it had had an electoral alliance in 1961. The representation by party and province, at the dissolution was:

Results

A total of 356 candidates were nominated; 154 for the National Party, 141 for the United Party, 26 for the Progressive Party, 22 for the Republican Party, 10 for the Front Party, two independents and one Christian National Party. The Republican, Front and Conservative National groups were new right-wing parties, which had not contested previous general elections. Eighteen candidates were returned unopposed, seventeen representing the National Party and one the United Party. The Progressive Party barely kept its Houghton seat, held by

Helen Suzman Helen Suzman, Order for Meritorious Service, OMSG, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE (née Gavronsky; 7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and p ...

since her defection from the UP, winning by 117 votes.

By province

References

{{South African elections General elections in South Africa

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 ...