22 April 1970 (1970-04-22) 1974 → 118 47 820,968 561,647 Start date April 22, 1970 | 126 seats 39 seats 8 8 54.43% 37.23% | |
 | ||
Winner B J Vorster | ||
The 1970 South African general election was held on 22 April for the 166-seat House of Assembly. Parliament was dissolved on 2 March and the deadline for the submission of candidates was 13 March. This was the first time in South African history that the House elected was responsible entirely to white people, as the seats of the four MPs elected separately by "qualified" Cape Coloured expired in the same year.
The National Party (NP) won another election, for the first time under the leadership of John Vorster. Several new representatives were elected, including Chris Heunis, future Acting President and Pik Botha, future Minister of Foreign Affairs for 17 years, who made his maiden speech demanding that the government sign the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
However, the NP lost some support in parliament for the first time since the 1948 election and its number of seats was reduced by eight. This could be attributed to losing votes to the right-wing splinter Herstigte Nasionale Party (Reconstituted National Party), which did not win any seats, however.
Helen Suzman, member of parliament for Houghton, retained her seat as the sole representative of the liberal Progressive Party.
House of Assembly results
Elections were held in 155 of the 166 constituencies (11 members elected unopposed). There were 2 028 487 registered voters and 1 508 248 votes were cast (74.7% of voters in contested constituencies).
* one seat was filled in a subsequent by-election