1981 South African general election

The 1981 elections were the first since the abolition of the Senate and ongoing constitutional changes meant to bring in a more presidential system. The House of Assembly had become the sole chamber of Parliament.[2]

The elections were also the last to be held under the then 1961 constitution, under which South Africa had become a republic, while retaining a Westminster-style parliamentary system. In foreign policy, the Lancaster House Agreement and the shift to black majority rule and a ZANU–PF government in newly independent Zimbabwe the preceding year, was likely to have affected the results, including boost for the HNP and increased white wariness of the government's policy. The Angolan War and Border Wars had also raged on without obvious results, with a South Africa-backed UNITA in fierce opposition to the government of the MPLA 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 1976 Soweto 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 the State 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 the Tricameral 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 the single transferable vote.[1]

Of the twelve appointed and indirectly elected members, 11 were National Party representatives and one was from the Progressive 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: Nohlen et al.[4]

• 18th South African Parliament