TheDemocratic Party was a South African political party formed in 1973 by former Interior MinisterTheo Gerdener after he broke away from the rulingNational Party. The party hoped to be a rallying point for theverligte (enlightened) Nationalists who had grown disillusioned with the hardlineapartheid government ofJohn Vorster and attracted support from younger Afrikaners. The party advocated liberalizing the country's apartheid laws to some degree and emancipating Asian and "Coloured" South Africans and had a goal of re-establishing South Africa as aconfederation of ethnic groupings.^[1]

The party contested seven seats in the1974 South African election but failed to elect any members to the South African parliament. In 1975, Gerdener contested a parliamentaryby-election on behalf of the DP in what was supposed to be a safe government seat and lost by only 30 votes. In 1977, the Democratic Party merged with theUnited Party to form theNew Republic Party.

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