1929 South African general election

1929 South African general election

12 June 1929
All 148 seats in the House of Assembly 75 seats needed for a majority
Registered	461,820
Turnout	75.34% ( 1.89pp)
First party Second party Third party   Lab Leader J. B. M. Hertzog Jan Smuts Disputed Party National South African Labour Leader's seat Smithfield Standerton Last election 35.25%, 63 seats 47.04%, 53 seats 14.35%, 18 seats Seats won 78 61 8 Seat change 15 8 10 Popular vote 141,579 159,896 33,919 Percentage 41.17% 46.50% 9.86% Swing 5.92pp 0.54pp 4.49pp
Results by province
Prime Minister before election J. B. M. Hertzog National Elected Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog National

General elections were held in South Africa on 12 June 1929. The National Party under J. B. M. Hertzog won an outright majority in the House of Assembly. Hertzog had the opportunity to form a government without the aid of the Labour Party. In fact the Pact government continued, with two ministers from the Creswell Labour faction remaining in office. The National Party remained the dominant party, for its second consecutive term.

Due to the split in the Labour Party, just eight MPs were elected for the party, of whom only four sat on the government benches. The leadership disputed between Colonel Frederic Creswell (of the Creswell Labour faction) and Walter Madeley (from the National Council Labour faction) following the split.

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 fifth delimitation report of 1928, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1923) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.

Provinces	Cape	Natal	Orange Free State	Transvaal	Total
Divisions	58 (51)	17	18 (17)	55 (50)	148 (135)

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	South African Party	159,896	46.50	61	+8
	National Party	141,579	41.17	78	+15
	Labour Party	33,919	9.86	8	–10
	Independents	8,503	2.47	1	0
Total		343,897	100.00	148	+13
Valid votes		343,897	98.84
Invalid/blank votes		4,027	1.16
Total votes		347,924	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		461,820	75.34
Source: South Africa 1982

See also

• 1929 in South Africa

Bibliography

• South Africa 1982: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, published by Chris van Rensburg Publications
• The South African Constitution, by H.J. May (3rd edition 1955, Juta & Co)