1920 South African general election

General elections were held in South Africa on 10 March 1920 to elect the 134 members of the House of Assembly.[1] This was for the third Union Parliament.

1920 South African general election
10 March 1920 (1920-03-10)
All 134 seats in the House of Assembly
68 seats needed for a majority
Turnout66.94% (Decrease 4.63pp)
  First party Second party
 
Hertzog JBM.jpg
Genl JC Smuts.jpg
Leader J. B. M. Hertzog Jan Smuts
Party National South African
Last election 29.41%, 27 seats 36.67%, 54 seats
Seats won 43 41
Seat change Increase16 Decrease13
Popular vote 90,512 101,227
Percentage 32.62% 36.48%
Swing Increase3.21pp Decrease0.19pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
SirThomasSmartt.jpg
Kolonel Cresswell.jpg
Leader Thomas Smartt F. H. P. Creswell
Party Unionist Labour
Last election 19.42%, 39 seats 9.63%, 4 seats
Seats won 25 21
Seat change Decrease14 Increase17
Popular vote 38,946 40,639
Percentage 14.03% 14.65%
Swing Decrease5.39pp Increase5.01pp
Results by province
Prime Minister before election

Jan Smuts
South African

 Elected Prime Minister

Jan Smuts
South African

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The National Party (NP) won the largest number of seats, but not a majority. The South African Party (SAP) minority government continued in office, with Unionist Party support in Parliament. This was the third successive term of SAP government, but only the second period with General Jan Smuts as Prime Minister. The first SAP premier (General Louis Botha) had died in office in 1919, during the previous Parliament.

The National Party became the official opposition for the first time.

Delimitation of electoral divisions

The South Africa Act 1909 had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division. The representation by province, under the third delimitation report of 1919, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1913) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.[2]

ProvincesCapeNatalOrange Free StateTransvaalTotal
Divisions51171749 (45)134 (130)

Results

The vote totals in the table below may not give a complete picture of the balance of political opinion, because of unopposed elections (where no votes were cast) and because contested seats may not have been fought by a candidate from all major parties.

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
South African Party101,22736.4841–13
National Party90,51232.6243+16
Labour Party40,63914.6521+17
Unionist Party38,94614.0325–14
Socialist League2020.0700
Independent5,9682.153–3
Vacant1–
Total277,494100.00134+4
Valid votes277,49498.28
Invalid/blank votes4,8671.72
Total votes282,361100.00
Registered voters/turnout421,79066.94
Source: Potgieter[3]

References
  • South Africa 1982: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, published by Chris van Rensburg Publications
  1. "The South African General Election was held on March 10th". The Spectator. London. 20 March 1920. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  2. South Africa 1982, page 129
  3. Dirk J. Potgieter (1971) Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Volume 4, p. 272
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