1921 South African general election

1921 South African general election

8 February 1921
All 134 seats in the House of Assembly 68 seats needed for a majority
Registered	499,531
Turnout	55.60% ( 11.34pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jan Smuts J. B. M. Hertzog Frederic Creswell Party South African National Labour Leader's seat Pretoria West Smithfield Troyeville (lost re-election) Last election 50.51%, 66 seats[a] 32.62%, 43 seats 14.65%, 21 seats Seats won 77 44 10 Seat change 11 1 11 Popular vote 137,389 105,039 29,406 Percentage 49.90% 38.15% 10.68% Swing 0.61pp 5.53pp 3.97pp
Results by province
Prime Minister before election Jan Smuts South African Elected Prime Minister Jan Smuts South African

General elections were held in South Africa on 8 February 1921 to elect the 134 members of the House of Assembly.^[1] The South African Party, which since the previous election had fused with the Unionist Party, won an absolute majority.

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 third delimitation report of 1919, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1913) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged.^[2]

The electoral divisions used for this general election were the same as those for the 1920 election.

Provinces	Cape	Natal	Orange Free State	Transvaal	Total
Divisions	51	17	17	49 (45)	134 (130)

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	South African Party	137,389	49.90	77	+11
	National Party	105,039	38.15	44	+1
	Labour Party	29,406	10.68	10	–11
	Socialist League	94	0.03	0	0
	Independents	3,385	1.23	1	–2
Vacant				2	–
Total		275,313	100.00	134	0
Valid votes		275,313	99.13
Invalid/blank votes		2,429	0.87
Total votes		277,742	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		499,531	55.60
Source: Potgieter[3]

Notes

1. South African Party and Unionist Party combined.

References

• South Africa 1982: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, published by Chris van Rensburg Publications

1. The Times, edition of 7 February 1921, p. 11
2. South Africa 1982, page 129
3. Dirk J. Potgieter (1971) Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Volume 4, p. 272