General elections were held in South Africa on 18 October 1961.^[1] They were the first general elections after South Africa became a republic following the 1960 South African referendum. The National Party under H. F. Verwoerd won a majority in the House of Assembly.

Quick Facts All 156 general roll seats in the House of Assembly 79 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...

1961 South African general election

← 1958 18 October 1961 1966 →
All 156 general roll seats in the House of Assembly 79 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,811,160
Turnout	44.55% ( 29.81pp)
First party Second party   Leader H. F. Verwoerd De Villiers Graaff Party National United Last election 55.54%, 103 seats 42.57%, 53 seats Seats won 105 49 Seat change 2 4 Popular vote 370,395 261,361 Percentage 46.44% 35.28% Swing 9.10pp 7.29pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Jan Steytler Henry Allan Fagan Party Progressive National Union Last election Did not exist Did not exist Seats won 1 1 Seat change New party New party Popular vote 69,045 50,279 Percentage 8.66% 6.30% Swing New party New party
Results by province
Prime Minister before election H. F. Verwoerd National Elected Prime Minister H. F. Verwoerd National

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The National Union Party - led by Japie Basson and ex-Chief Justice Henry Allan Fagan in alliance with the United Party - had been formed as a "bridge" to the United Party by disgrunted ex-Nationalists who were unhappy with Verwoerd's leadership, aiming at the National, Afrikaner electorate. With the exception of the constituency of Bezuidenhout, won by Basson in a landslide, the party failed and later merged with the United Party.

The elections also saw the first general election appearance of the liberal Progressive Party, which had broken away from the United Party in 1959. The new party retained one MP, in the form of Helen Suzman. She was to remain its sole parliamentary representative until 1974.

The South Africa Act 1909 had provided for a delimitation commission to define the boundaries for each electoral division, for general roll voters in the four provinces. The representation by province, under the eleventh delimitation report of 1958, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1953) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.^[5]

This was only the second general election, in South African history, where the boundaries were unchanged from the previous election.

At the end of the 12th Parliament elected since the Union of 1910, when it was dissolved in 1961, the House of Assembly consisted of two groups of members. White voters were represented by 156 general roll members and coloured voters in Cape Province by four white MPs known at the time as Coloured Representative Members (CRM).

The general election only affected the representatives of white voters. The other members were elected on a different date (see above).

The representation by party and province, at the dissolution was:-^[6]

A total of 70 seats were uncontested, of which 50 were won by the National Party and 20 by the United Party.