Purified National Party

The Purified National Party (Afrikaans: Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party) was a break away from Hertzog's National Party which lasted from 1935 to 1948

Purified National Party
Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party
AbbreviationGNP
LeaderD. F. Malan
Founded1935 (1935)
Dissolved1939 (1939)
Preceded byNational Party
Merged intoReunited (Herenigde) National Party
IdeologyConservatism
Afrikaner Nationalism
Political positionCentre-right

In 1935 the main portion of the National Party, led by J. B. M. Hertzog, merged with the South African Party of Jan Smuts to form the United Party. A hardline faction of Afrikaner nationalists, led by D. F. Malan, strongly opposed the merger. Malan and 19 other MPs defected to form the Purified National Party, which he led for the next fourteen years in opposition. Their Federale Raad (Federal Council) met in Bloemfontein to work out their own political program on July 5, 1935. [1]

In 1939 the question of South African participation in World War II caused a split in the United Party. Hertzog's Nationalist wing broke away and merged with the Purified National Party to form the Reunited (Herenigde) National Party. This party went on to defeat the United Party in the election of 1948.

References
  1. Davenport, Thomas Rodney Hope (1 January 1977). South Africa, A Modern History. Cambridge Commonwealth series. MacMillan. ISBN 978-0333179611.


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