1981 South African general election

← 1977 29 April 1981 1984 (HoR, HoD) → 1987 (HoA) →
elected members →
165 of the 177 seats in theHouse of Assembly 83 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,290,626
Turnout	59.90% ( 11.38pp)
First party Second party Third party   PFP NRP Leader P. W. Botha Frederik van Zyl Slabbert Vause Raw Party National Progressive New Republic Last election 65.34%, 134 seats 16.95%, 17 seats 12.15%, 10 seats Seats won 131 26 8 Seat change 3 9 2 Popular vote 778,371 265,297 93,603 Percentage 57.66% 19.65% 6.93% Swing 7.68pp 2.70pp 5.22pp
Results by province
Prime Minister before election P. W. Botha National Elected Prime Minister P. W. Botha National

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General elections were held inSouth Africa on 29 April 1981. TheNational Party, under the leadership ofP. W. Botha since 1978, lost some support, but achieved anotherlandslide victory, winning 131 of 165 directly elected seats in theHouse of Assembly.^[1]

Meanwhile, theProgressive Federal Party – led since 1979 byFrederik van Zyl Slabbert, anAfrikaner – increased its representation to 26 seats, thereby consolidating its position as theofficial opposition. TheHerstigte Nasionale Party (HNP) now under the leadership ofJaap Marais and representing right-wingAfrikaner conservatives, received 14.1% of the vote. The HNP's tally marked a historic result; twice that of the former official opposition NRP, and within a touching distance of the liberal PFP, but failed to win a seat under thefirst-past-the-post system due to splitting its voter base with the NP in more liberal areas and being decisively defeated in the Afrikaner heartlands.^[1] In 1985, under the same parliament, HNP candidate Louis Stofberg managed a win in a by-election forSasolburg, but the success was soon overrun by theConservative Party under NP renegadeAndries Treurnicht.

Despite divisions among the opposition, the NP lost three seats compared to its record1977 result.

The 1981 elections were the first since the abolition of theSenate and ongoing constitutional changes meant to bring in a morepresidential system. The House of Assembly had become thesole chamber ofParliament.^[2]

The elections were also the last to be held under the then1961 constitution, under which South Africa had become a republic, while retaining aWestminster-style parliamentary system. In foreign policy, theLancaster House Agreement and the shift toblack majority rule and aZANU–PF government in newly independentZimbabwe the preceding year, was likely to have affected the results, including boost for the HNP and increased white wariness of the government's policy. TheAngolan War andBorder Wars had also raged on without obvious results, with a South Africa-backedUNITA in fierce opposition to the government of theMPLA in Luanda. Exceeding costs, and failure to accomplish strategic goals would have alienated both liberal and more hawkish voters dissatisfied with developments in a continent which, a decade earlier, South Africa would have dominated militarily. The 1976Soweto uprising and following sanctions and boycotts still affected the South African economy, causing stagnant wages, unemployment and psychological alienation driving increased voter dissatisfaction.

Although technically a Westminster system, Botha's initial reforms of the House of Assembly now included twelve additional members, four of whom were appointed by theState President and eight were indirectly elected by the directly elected members.^[3] These reforms secured the NP's existing majority, which became even more important with the planned introduction of theTricameral Parliament in 1984, with the NP's majority role becoming more fragile with the introduction of Coloured and Indian representatives, albeit in different chambers. The elected additional members were chosen by means of proportional representation, by means of thesingle transferable vote.^[1]

Of the twelve appointed and indirectly elected members, 11 were National Party representatives and one was from theProgressive Federal Party.^[1]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	National Party	778,371	57.66	131	–3
	Progressive Federal Party	265,297	19.65	26	+9
	Herstigte Nasionale Party	191,249	14.17	0	0
	New Republic Party	93,603	6.93	8	–2
	National Conservative Party	19,149	1.42	0	New
	Other parties and independents	2,264	0.17	0	0
Presidential appointees				4	New
Indirectly-elected members				8	New
Total		1,349,933	100.00	177	+12
Valid votes		1,349,933	98.39
Invalid/blank votes		22,086	1.61
Total votes		1,372,019	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,290,626	59.90
Source:[4][5]

• 18th South African Parliament

• General elections in South Africa
• 1981 elections in South Africa
• April 1981 in Africa

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