The New Republic Party (NRP) was a South African political party. It was formed as the successor to the disbanded
United Party (UP) in 1977 and as a merger with the smaller
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
. It drew its support mainly from the then Province of Natal, and tried to strike a moderate course between the apartheid policy of the ruling
National Party (NP) and the liberal policies of the
Progressive Federal Party
The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) ( af, Progressiewe Federale Party) was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For it ...
(PFP).
Background
The United Party had been the main opposition in the House of Assembly since it lost power in the 1948 election, but it was severely weakened by a split in 1975. To gain new support, the UP then merged with the Democratic Party to form the New Republic Party in 1977. After the UP wound up, the last UP leader,
Sir de Villiers Graaff
Sir De Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet, (8 December 1913 – 4 October 1999) (first name De Villiers, surname De Graeff, Graaff) known as Div Graaff, was a South African politician who succeeded his father, Sir David Graaff, 1st Baronet, Sir David ...
served as the interim national leader of the new party, with
Radclyffe Cadman
Radclyffe Macbeth Cadman (14 January 1924 – 11 October 2011) was a South African politician who represented the United Party as Member of the House of Assembly for the electoral divisions of Zululand (1961-66, 1970-74) and Umhlatuzana (1974- ...
as parliamentary leader. Before the 1977 election, Graaff resigned and Cadman became the national leader.
However, a significant number of UP parliamentarians refused to remain with the new party; some joined the anti-apartheid PFP, and six were expelled and formed the centrist
South African Party
nl, Zuidafrikaanse Partij
, leader1_title = Leader (s)
, leader1_name = Louis Botha,Jan Smuts, Barry Hertzog
, foundation =
, dissolution =
, merger = Het VolkSouth African PartyAfrikaner BondOrangia Unie
, merged ...
, eventually joining the majority NP. The NRP held 23 seats at the dissolution of parliament in 1977, down from the 41 the United Party had held previously.
Election results
The
1977 South African general election
General elections were held in South Africa on 30 November 1977. The National Party, led by John Vorster won a landslide victory in the House of Assembly. The newly formed Progressive Federal Party, led by Colin Eglin became the official oppos ...
left the New Republic Party with only 10 parliamentary seats, and it lost the position as official opposition to the Progressive Federal Party. As Cadman was defeated in the election, a new leader was needed.
Vause Raw
Wyatt Vause Raw, DMS (21 September 1921 – 13 March 2001) was a conservative opposition South African politician of the Apartheid era. He was a prominent member of the United Party from the 1940s to the late 1970s, and the leader of the succe ...
was elected leader of the New Republic Party.
Raw discredited the party in a string of by-election defeats from 1977 to 1980, by making "extravagant" claims of support and predicting victory in areas where the party had no prospects. In fact, the NRP would win just two by-elections during its eleven-year existence: a provincial council seat in Natal, South Coast in July 1979, and another in East London in October 1980.
In August 1980, Raw announced that the party was "broke" outside of Natal.
The party's support base stabilised somewhat, and it lost only 2 seats in the
1981 South African general election
General elections were held in South Africa on 29 April 1981. The National Party, under the leadership of P. W. Botha since 1978, lost some support, but achieved another landslide victory, winning 131 of 165 directly elected seats in the Hous ...
, while retaining eight. The election however confirmed the NRP:s status as a Natal-based party. Almost all its members in the House of Assembly were from Natal, and it won the 1981 election to the Natal Provincial Council, securing 14 of the 20 seats available. By contrast, the party won only 1 out of 55 seats on the
Cape Provincial Council
The Cape Provincial Council was the provincial council of the Cape Province of South Africa. It was created by the South Africa Act 1909, with effect from the formation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910. The first election to the provinc ...
, and no seats at all on the
Transvaal Provincial Council
The Transvaal Provincial Council was the provincial council of the Transvaal Province in South Africa. It was created by the South Africa Act 1909, from the formation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910, and replaced the Transvaal Legisla ...
.
In 1984, Raw was replaced as leader by Bill Sutton. However, the NP's shift towards reform in the early 1980s under the leadership of
P. W. Botha
Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...
would allow it to make inroads in the NRP's remaining voter base and the party retained only 1 seat, held by Sutton, in the
1987 South African general election, the last one it contested.
Sutton retained his seat until the 1989 election.
Platform and dissolution
The anti-apartheid PFP considered the NRP "thoroughly racist",
and the two parties "declared war" on each other. After the NRP stepped down from a by-election, which the NP subsequently won, the PFP accused the NRP of dealing with the NP in order to defeat their common enemy, the PFP.
The primary policy of the NRP was to introduce a multi-chambered parliament, with a chamber each for whites, coloureds, Indians, and urban blacks. However, in 1982 the Nationalist government announced plans for a
Tricameral Parliament
The Tricameral Parliament, officially the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, was the legislature of South Africa between 1984 and 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983, which gave a limited political voice to t ...
, which was to represent coloureds, Indians, and whites. Blacks were not represented, even though the government no longer officially expected them to migrate to the
bantustans
A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (n ...
. Nevertheless, the Tricameral Parliament's marked similarity to the NRP's policy meant that it was increasingly difficult to strike a moderate course between the NP and the liberal PFP. The Tricameral policy, and an announcement that it would talk to revolutionary groups, gained the NP liberal support. There was now little enough space for the PFP to occupy on the left of white public opinion, and no room whatsoever for the NRP to split the difference between the NP and the PFP. This was shown by the party's disastrous showing in the 1987 election.
It disbanded in 1988. On dissolving the NRP, Sutton recommended that party members throw their support to the
Independent Party of
. The IP and other NRP remnants would later merge with the PFP to form the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, which later became the
Democratic Alliance.
References
{{Political history of South Africa , state=expanded
Political parties established in 1977
Defunct political parties in South Africa
Political parties disestablished in 1988
Organisations associated with apartheid
1977 establishments in South Africa
Republicanism in South Africa
Conservative parties in South Africa
Liberal parties in South Africa