1977 South African general election

The 1977 South African general election was held on 30 November 1977. The National Party, led by John Vorster won a landslide victory in the House of Assembly. The newly formed Progressive Federal Party, led by Colin Eglin became the official opposition. The New Republic Party, successor to the United Party, won only 10 seats,[1] all but one of them in Natal Province. Once again, the Herstigte Nasionale Party failed to win any seats.

1977 South African general election

30 November 1977 (1977-11-30)
All 165 seats in the House of Assembly
First party Second party Third party   Leader B. J. Vorster Colin Eglin Radclyffe Cadman Party National Party Progressive Federal New Republic Leader since 1966 1971 1977 Leader's seat Nigel Sea Point Zululand (lost) Last election 123 7 41 Seats won 135 17 10 Seat change 11 10 31 Popular vote 689,108 177,705 123,245 Percentage 64.8% 16.7% 12.1% Swing 7.7% 11.4% 20.6%
House of Assembly after the election
Prime Minister before election B. J. Vorster National Party Elected Prime Minister B. J. Vorster National Party

In the 1977 elections, the National Party got its best-ever result in the elections with support of 64.8% of the white voters and 135 seats in parliament out of 165. Vorster, however resigned as Prime Minister for alleged health reasons, not even a year later on 28 September 1978.

Formation of Progressive Federal Party

On 11 February 1975 four liberal MPs led by Harry Schwarz broke away from the United Party and created the Reform Party. The party merged with the Progressive Party on 25 July 1975 to form the Progressive Reform Party. In 1977 another group of United Party members left the party to form the Committee for a United Opposition, which then joined the Progressive Reform Party to form the Progressive Federal Party. This proved to realign the opposition in Parliament, as the PFP became the official opposition party.

Results

Summary of the 30 November 1977 South African general election results

Party		Leader	Votes	%Votes	Seats	Change	%Seats
	National Party	John Vorster	689 108	64.8%	135[1]	+15	81.2%
	Progressive Federal Party	Colin Eglin	177 705	16.7%	17[1]	+11	10.3%
	New Republic Party	Radclyffe Cadman	123 245	12.1%	10[1]	-31	6.1%
	Herstigte Nasionale Party	Jaap Marais	34 161	3.2%	0	±0	0.0%
	South African Party	Myburgh Streicher	17 915	1.7%	3	+3	2.2%
	Others		6 171	0.6%	1	+0	0.6%
	Total			100.0%	166	-1	100.0%

References

African elections

1. Alexander, Douglas (31 July 1979). "South Africa Opposition Leader falls". The Age. Retrieved 19 May 2017.