United Party (South Africa)
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United Party Verenigde Party ( Coloured people's rights | |
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Political position | Centre-right |
The United Party was a political party in South Africa. It was the country's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948.
Formation
The United Party was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister
Hertzog led the party until 1939. In that year, Hertzog refused to commit South Africa to
The majority of the United Party caucus were of a different mind, however, and Hertzog resigned. Jan Smuts succeeded him and led the party and the country throughout World War II and the immediate post-war years.
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Decline
Smuts and the United Party lost the 1948 election to the National Party. It never held power again.
Schwarz breakaway
There was much division in the party, between liberals and
In 1975 Harry Schwarz and three other Members of Parliament (MPs) were expelled from the United Party. Further resignations followed, which included two senators, ten members of the Transvaal Provincial Council, 14 out of the 36 Johannesburg City Councillors and four Randburg City Councillors. This made it the official opposition in the Transvaal Provincial Council. They formed the Reform Party which elected Schwarz as leader. Schwarz's breakaway led to the demise of the United Party and realigned opposition politics in South Africa. The Reform Party soon merged with the Progressive Party to form the Progressive Reform Party (PRP).
In 1977, after merging with the
Political position and legacy
The UP's position on race relations in South Africa was a complex one; while the UP was more liberal in character than the National Party, it never clearly articulated its views on the best approach to them. Smuts himself alluded to the fact that at some unspecified point in the future, black South Africans might be asked to share power with the white minority, provided black politicians demonstrated their commitment to 'civilised' norms of political and personal conduct. Generally, though, the UP seemed to have little difficulty in tacitly supporting
The UP was against apartheid as a system, but also favoured the continuation of
The party supported links with the
By the late 1970s, the breakaway and successor groups of the United Party – the Progressive Federal Party, New Republic Party and South African Party – were more or less committed to a multiracial federation as a solution to the racial question. The ruling National Party's reform program under
Electoral history
Presidential elections
Election | Party candidate | Votes | % | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
State President elected by a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament | ||||
1961 | Supported Henry Fagan (NU) | 71 | 33.81% | Lost |
1967 | Pieter Voltelyn Graham van der Byl | 52 | 24.19% | Lost |
House of Assembly elections
Election | Party leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1938
|
J. B. M. Hertzog | 446,032 | 53.81% | 111 / 150
|
25 | 1st | Majority government |
1943
|
Jan Smuts | 435,297 | 49.68% | 89 / 150
|
22 | 1st | Majority government |
1948
|
524,230 | 49.16% | 65 / 150
|
24 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1953
|
Koos Strauss
|
576,474 | 47.65% | 57 / 156
|
8 | 2nd | Opposition |
1958
|
De Villiers Graaff | 503,648 | 43.57% | 53 / 156
|
4 | 2nd | Opposition |
1961
|
288,217 | 35.88% | 49 / 156
|
4 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1966
|
486,629 | 37.37% | 39 / 166
|
10 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1970
|
561,647 | 37.23% | 47 / 166
|
8 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1974
|
363,459 | 32.70% | 41 / 171
|
6 | 2nd | Opposition |
Senate elections
Election | Party leader | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1939 | J. B. M. Hertzog | 45.45% | 20 / 44
|
20 | 1st | Minority |
1948 | Jan Smuts | 34.09% | 15 / 44
|
5 | 1st | Opposition |
1955 | Koos Strauss | 8.99% | 8 / 89
|
7 | 2nd | Opposition |
1960 | De Villiers Graaff | 27.78% | 15 / 54
|
7 | 2nd | Opposition |
1965 | 24.53% | 13 / 53
|
2 | 2nd | Opposition | |
1970 | 24.07% | 13 / 54
|
2nd | Opposition | ||
1974 | 22.22% | 12 / 54
|
1 | 2nd | Opposition |
See also
References
- ^ "United Party". 4 October 2019.
- ^ Rosenthal, Eric, 1978. Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa. Cape Town and Johannesburg: Juta and Company Limited.