South African general election, 1948

South Africa

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The South African general election of 1948 was held on the 26 May 1948 and saw Herenigde Nasionale Party leader DF Malan call for the prohibition of mixed marriages, for the banning of black trade unions and for stricter enforcement of job reservation. Running on this platform of apartheid, as it was termed for the first time, Malan and his party benefited from the weight given to rural electorates, defeating Smuts and his United Party. Smuts even lost his own seat of Standerton. Also, 90% of UP seats were urban.

The Herenigde Nasionale Party and its coalition partner, the Afrikaner Party, won seventy-nine seats against the seventy-four of their United and Labour Party opponents, although the Herenigde Nasionale Party had received 140,000 less of the total votes cast than their opponents. The Herenigde Nasionale Party consequently became the government, renamed itself the National Party and ruled South Africa until 1994.

Reasons for the National party victory

During the Second World War, South Africa's Prime Minister, Jan Smuts, had built up a reputation as an Internationalist, particularly during the formation of the United Nations. As Smuts had supported Indian Home Rule and was privately considering dismantling segregation in South Africa, many poor whites, particularly unskilled workers, switched their votes to the National Party, believing that increased black migration to the cities would have a devastating effect on their livelihood. D.F.Malan had strong Afrikaner roots and was able to capitalize on that fear, particularly as most of Smut's cabinet was made up of English speaking South Africans who had little sympathy for Afrikaner interests. Living costs during the Second World War had risen by almost half; real wages were also down for whites but had risen for blacks.

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