Background
The National Party (led by the Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog) and the South African Party (whose leader was the Deputy Prime Minister Jan Smuts) were in coalition at the time of the 1933 South African general election. After the election the two coalition parties fused, to become the United South African National Party (commonly known as the United Party). The formal launch of the new party took place on 5 December 1934. Those members of the National Party who did not accept the fusion, constituted themselves as the Purified National Party (PNP) in June 1934. The leader of the new party was Dr D.F. Malan, who had been the National Party leader in Cape Province. Eighteen MPs joined the PNP caucus. Dr Malan became the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Assembly. The members of the South African Party who rejected the fusion, formed the Dominion Party. Its leader was Colonel C.F. Stallard.Changes to the franchise and representation
Under the Representation of Natives Act 1936, all registered black voters in the Cape Province were removed from the common voters' lists and placed on a special Cape Natives voters' roll. This served to effectively dismantle the traditional multi-racial "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 seventh delimitation report of 1937, is set out in the table below. The figures in brackets are the number of electoral divisions in the previous (1932) delimitation. If there is no figure in brackets then the number was unchanged. The above table does not include the three Native representative seats in Cape Province, which were not included in the delimitation of the general roll seats under the South Africa Act 1909.Nominations
Candidates nominated for the election, by party, were United 150, Purified National 103, Labour 37, Dominion 33, Independent 31, Greyshirts 3 and Socialists 3. Total 360.''Keesing's Contemporary Archives 1937-1940'', pp. 3074-3075Results
By province
References
* ''Keesing's Contemporary Archives'' * ''Smuts: A Reappraisal'', by Bernard Friedman (George, Allen & Unwin 1975) * ''South Africa 1982 Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa'', published by Chris van Rensburg Publications * ''The South African Constitution'', by H.J. May (3rd edition 1955, Juta & Co {{South African elections General elections in South Africa South Africa General May 1938 events