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223 votes in the Parliament of South Africa 112 votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 96.42% | ||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the election. Dönges (orange) received 163 votes while Van der Byl (blue) received 52. | |||||||||||||||||
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The1967 South African presidential election pittedTheophilus Ebenhaezer Dönges against MajorPieter Voltelyn Graham van der Byl. In accordance with theSouth African Constitution of 1961, theSouth African Parliament had the task of electing a person asState President, the ceremonialhead of state.
On January 19, 1967, the caucus of parliamentarians from theNational Party proposed Dönges to succeedCharles Robberts Swart as State President. In the group, he won againstJan de Klerk and againstJacobus Johannes Fouché, who was elected the South African head of state a year later in 1968. Dönges was elected as State President on February 26 with 163 votes in the second round against 52 votes for van der Byl, the United Party candidate.[1]
In May 1967, Dönges suffered abrain hemorrhage that plunged him into acoma, three weeks before his swearing in and the inauguration of his presidential term, which was to take place on June 1. As a result, the President of theSouth African Senate,Jozua François Naudé, served as Acting State President until Donges was fit to take office. On June 10, Dönges suffered a delicate surgery on the brain. His condition improved, but on October 3, 1967, he suffered a stroke. It was through his lawyer that he resigned on December 6. He died on January 10, 1968, at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, without ever having regained consciousness and without being able to exercise the office of State President.
