1987 South African general election

1987 South African general election

← 1981 6 May 1987 1989 →
166 of the 178 seats in the House of Assembly 84 seats needed for a majority
Registered	3,031,414
Turnout	67.84% ( 7.94pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader P. W. Botha Andries Treurnicht Colin Eglin Party National Conservative Progressive Last election 57.66%, 131 seats Did not exist 19.65%, 26 seats Seats won 123 22 19 Seat change 8 New party 7 Popular vote 1,075,505 547,559 288,574 Percentage 52.70% 26.83% 14.14% Swing 4.96pp New party 5.51pp
State President before election P. W. Botha National Elected State President P. W. Botha National

Politics of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President Paul Mashatile Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislature National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Leader of the Opposition John Steenhuisen
Judiciary Chief Justice Ray Zondo Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mahube Molemela High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 1910 1915 1920 1921 1924 1929 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 1981 1984 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1960 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality Municipalities (list)
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Naledi Pandor Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights National debt Political assassinations Protests Repression Social Welfare Taxation
Provincial Politics Politics of the Eastern Cape Politics of the Free State Politics of Gauteng Politics of KwaZulu-Natal Politics of Limpopo Politics of Mpumalanga Politics of the Northern Cape Politics of North West Politics of the Western Cape
South Africa portal Other countries
v t e

General elections were held in South Africa on 6 May 1987. The State of Emergency cast a cloud over the elections, which were again won by the National Party (NP) under the leadership of P. W. Botha, although for the first time it faced serious opposition from the right of the South African political spectrum. The election resulted in the creation of the Second Botha Cabinet, which held power until 1989.

The right-wing opposition came in the form of the Conservative Party (CP), which opposed even the limited powersharing with Indian and Coloured South Africans that had been implemented by the NP as part of a package of constitutional reforms in 1984. The CP was led by a former chairman of the Broederbond and NP cabinet minister, Andries Treurnicht, infamously known as Minister of Education under the Soweto riots. Following the election, in which the CP extended its 17 splinter MPs to win 22 seats, it replaced the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) as the official opposition in the House of Assembly.^[1]

The election year also saw important political developments to the left of the NP. During 1987 Denis Worrall resigned as the South African ambassador in London to return to politics. Together with Wynand Malan (who had resigned from the NP) and Esther Lategan he formed the Independent Movement to fight the general election. Only Malan won a seat and the partnership consequently disintegrated. Denis Worrall and others subsequently went on to form the Independent Party (IP), while Esther Lategan and others formed the National Democratic Movement.

Partially as a result of the split in the votes to the liberal anti-NP parties, the PFP lost seven of its parliamentary seats as well as its role of official opposition. The New Republic Party (NRP), formerly the United Party continued its disintegration and lost four of its five seats.

Results

Of the 12 appointed and indirectly elected seats, ten were taken by the National Party and one each by the Conservative Party and Progressive Federal Party.^[2]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Party	1,075,505	52.70	123	–8
	Conservative Party	547,559	26.83	22	New
	Progressive Federal Party	288,574	14.14	19	–7
	Herstigte Nasionale Party	61,456	3.01	0	0
	New Republic Party	40,494	1.98	1	–7
	Independents	27,149	1.33	1	+1
Presidential appointees				4	0
Indirectly-elected members				8	0
Total		2,040,737	100.00	178	+1
Valid votes		2,040,737	99.23
Invalid/blank votes		15,890	0.77
Total votes		2,056,627	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,031,414	67.84
Source: Nohlen et al.[3]

Reactions

Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu noted after the election, "We have entered the dark ages of the history of our country".^[4]

Donald Simpson, writing in the South African newspaper, The Star, went as far as to predict that the National Party would lose the next election and that the Conservative Party would become the new government of South Africa.^[5]

References

This page was last edited on 20 March 2024, at 12:06