1989 South African general election

The 1989 South African general election, held on 6 September of that year, was South Africa's last national race-based parliamentary election. The election was called early (no election was required until 1992) to gauge support for the recently-elected head of the National Party, F. W. de Klerk, who was in the process of replacing P. W. Botha as the country's president, and the new leader's program of reform to include further retreat from the policy of apartheid.

1989 South African general election

6 September 1989
All 166 elected seats in the House of Assembly All 80 elected seats in the House of Representatives All 40 elected seats in the House of Delegates
Turnout	69.5%
First party Second party Third party   Leader F. W. de Klerk Andries Treurnicht Zach de Beer (pictured), Denis Worrall and Wynand Malan Party National Party Conservative Party Democratic Party Leader since 1989 1982 1989 Leader's seat Vereeniging Waterberg did not stand Last election 123 22 19[lower-alpha 1] Seats won 94 39 33 Seat change 29 17 14 Popular vote 1,039,704 680,131 431,444 Percentage 48.2% 31.5% 20.0% Swing 4.1% 4.9% 6.0%
House of Assembly after the 1989 election
Acting State President before election F. W. de Klerk National Party State President F. W. de Klerk National Party

Although it won an absolute majority, the National Party suffered an electoral setback and won only 48% of the popular vote and 103 of the seats in the House of Assembly.

The official opposition Conservative Party (CP), which opposed any form of power-sharing with other races, remained the official opposition with 41 seats and gained 31% of the votes.

Before the elections, the liberal Progressive Federal Party (PFP) had dissolved itself and regrouped as the Democratic Party (DP) and won 34 seats.

House of Assembly (White)

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Directly-elected	Additional	Total	+/–
	National Party	1,039,704	48.2	94	9	103	−21
	Conservative Party	680,131	31.5	39	2	41	+19
	Democratic Party	431,444	20.0	33	1	34	+15
	Herstigte Nasionale Party	5,416	0.2	0	0	0	0
	Independent	898	0.0	0	0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		10,336	–	–	–	–	–
Total		2,167,929	100	166	12	178	+11
Registered voters/turnout		3,120,104	69.5	–	–	–	–
Source: IPU

The White Chamber of Parliament had 178 members, 166 of whom were directly elected (including a seat from Walvis Bay, which was added in 1981) with 8 members indirectly elected by the directly elected members on the basis of proportional representation and 4 nominated by the State President (one from each province).[1]

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 forsake the apartheid system and seek a compromise with the African National Congress and its leader Nelson Mandela.

House of Representatives (Coloured)

Party	Votes	%	Seats
			Elected	Appointed	Total	+/–
Labour Party	171,930	65.0	69	5	74	−2
Democratic Reform Party	39,741	15.2	5	0	5	+5
United Democratic Party	19,261	7.6	3	0	3	+3
Freedom Party	1,949	0.7	1	0	1	0
Independents	24,705	9.4	2	0	2	+1
Invalid/blank votes	2,861	–	–	–	–	–
Total	261,047	100	80	5	85	+5
Registered voters/turnout	1,439,112	18.1	–	–	–	–
Source: IPU, African Elections Database

House of Delegates (Indian)

Party	Votes	%	Seats
			Elected	Appointed	Total	+/–
Solidarity	58,216	37.6	16	3	19	+2
National People's Party	38,523	24.9	8	1	9	−9
Democratic Party	10,427	6.7	3	0	3	+3
National Federal Party	8 058	5.2	1	0	1	+1
People's Party of South Africa	6 064	3.9	1	0	1	+2
United Party	2 712	1.8	0	0	0	0
Merit People's Party	2 078	1.3	3	1	4	+4
Progressive Independent Party	1 497	1.0	0	0	0	−1
Freedom Party	703	0.7	2	0	2	+2
Republican Party	701	0.7	0	0	0	0
Independents	24 157	15.6	6	0	6	+2
Invalid/blank votes	1,388	–	–	–	–	–
Total	154,524	100	40	5	45	+5
Registered voters/turnout	663,604	23.3	–	–	–	–
Source: IPU, African Elections Database

Notes

1. As Progressive Federal Party.

References

1. 1981 House of Assembly Election