The election for the seventh Senate of South Africa took place on October 26, 1960, with the appointment of nominated Senators by the Governor-General taking place on November 16, 1960.[1]
Before this election, the seats reserved for Native Representatives seats were abolished. The Senate Act 1960 reduced the size of the Senate and reinstated proportional representation elections, as it had been up until the election of 1955. However, instead of going back to eight Senators per province, the Cape would have 11, Transvaal 14 (15 from 1970) and the two smaller provinces would retain 8 Senators. Again, the representation from South-West Africa was unchanged. The number of nominated Senators went back to eight.
The requirement for half of the appointed senators to be "acquainted with the 'reasonable wants and wishes' of non-white South Africans" was reworded so that "at least one of the two appointed senators [for each province or South West Africa] must be thoroughly acquainted with the interests of the Cape Coloured, Malay and Griqua people in the province or territory concerned and capable of serving as a channel through which these interests may be promoted". This provision was essentially reiterated in section 29(b)(2) of the 1961 constitution that contained "the requirement that at least one of the two senators nominated from each province under this section shall be thoroughly acquainted, by reason of official experience or otherwise, with the interests of the coloured population in the province for which the said senator is nominated".
The Senate was thus reduced in size to 54 in 1960 and then to 53 in 1962 (as the representative of the "non-European" — i.e. Coloured, as black Africans were explicitly excluded from the definition under section 1 (ii) of the 1951 act — population in the Cape Province nominated in 1957 based on section 7 of the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951 retained his seat until 1962).[1] This additional seat was left vacant from 1962 onwards, but was formally abolished only in 1970 in terms of the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1968.
The Senate composition remained unchanged by the declaration of the Republic of South Africa in 1961, except that the State President took over the role of the Governor-General in appointing Senators. Under the republican Constitution, the President of the Senate was to act as State President whenever that office was vacant, or if a state president was unable to perform his duties.
Section 28 (1) (a) of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act 1961, provided that there should be "eight senators nominated by the State President of whom two shall be nominated from each province ...". The South Africa Act 1909 had not limited the number of nominated senators to be from any particular province.
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution extends the right to participate in presidential elections to the District of Columbia. The amendment grants to the district electors in the Electoral College, as though it were a state, though the district can never have more electors than the least-populous state. How the electors are appointed is to be determined by Congress. The Twenty-third Amendment was proposed by the 86th Congress on June 16, 1960; it was ratified by the requisite number of states on March 29, 1961.
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seventh Parliament was first convened on 22 May 2019.
The Senate of Pakistan or Aiwān-e-Bālā Pākistān, constitutionally the House of the Federation, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan. As of 2023, It has a maximum membership of 100, of which 92 are elected by the provincial legislatures using single transferable vote. Four represent the Federal Capital and another four are representing former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, until membership expiration in 2024. Members sit for terms lasting six years, with half of the house up for election every three years. Unlike the National Assembly, the Senate is a continuing chamber and hence not subject to dissolution.
The Senate was the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa between 1910 and its abolition from 1 January 1981, and between 1994 and 1997.
General elections were held in South Africa on 18 October 1961. They were the first general elections after South Africa became a republic following the 1960 South African referendum. The National Party under Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd won a majority in the House of Assembly.
General elections were held in South Africa on 16 April 1958. The result was a victory for the National Party, now under the leadership of J.G. Strijdom after the retirement of Daniel Malan in 1954. The opposition United Party campaigned for the first time under De Villiers Graaff, who would remain party leader for two decades.
General elections were held in South Africa on 30 March 1966. The result was another comprehensive victory for the National Party under Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd.
The South Africa Act 1909 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Union of South Africa out of the former Cape, Natal, Orange River, and Transvaal colonies. The Act also allowed for potential admission of Rhodesia into the Union, a proposal rejected by Rhodesian colonists in a 1922 referendum. The draft proposal was supported by the four colonial parliaments, but was opposed by Cape Colony premier W. P. Schreiner, who raised concerns that it would strip rights from non-white South Africans.
The system of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa known as apartheid was implemented and enforced by many acts and other laws. This legislation served to institutionalize racial discrimination and the dominance by white people over people of other races. While the bulk of this legislation was enacted after the election of the National Party government in 1948, it was preceded by discriminatory legislation enacted under earlier British and Afrikaner governments. Apartheid is distinguished from segregation in other countries by the systematic way in which it was formalized in law.
The House of Assembly was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1981, the sole parliamentary chamber between 1981 and 1984, and latterly the white representative house of the Tricameral Parliament from 1984 to 1994, when it was replaced by the current National Assembly. Throughout its history, it was exclusively constituted of white members who were elected to office predominantly by white citizens, though until 1960 and 1970, respectively, some Black Africans and Coloureds in the Cape Province voted under a restricted form of suffrage.
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 provincial council took place on 15 September 1910.
The Constitution of 1961 was the fundamental law of South Africa for two decades. Under the terms of the constitution South Africa left the Commonwealth and became a republic.
The Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1968 was an act of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the government of B. J. Vorster, which repealed the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951. This had the effect of removing the four members of the House of Assembly who were elected by Coloured voters in the Cape Province as well as abolishing the additional nominated seat in the Senate for the "non-European" population of the Cape Province, that had only been filled once in 1957 and had been vacant since 1962. Subsequently the House of Assembly would be elected solely by white voters.
The provincial councils were the legislatures of the four original provinces of South Africa. They were created at the foundation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, and abolished in 1986 when they were replaced by a strengthened executive appointed by the State President. The four provincial councils were the Cape Provincial Council, the Natal Provincial Council, the Transvaal Provincial Council and the Orange Free State Provincial Council.
The Coloured vote constitutional crisis, also known as the Coloured vote case, was a constitutional crisis that occurred in the Union of South Africa during the 1950s as the result of an attempt by the Nationalist government to remove coloured voters in the Union's Cape Province from the common voters' rolls. It developed into a dispute between the judiciary and the other branches of government over the power of Parliament to amend an entrenched clause in the South Africa Act and the power of the Appellate Division to overturn the amendment as unconstitutional. The crisis ended when the government enlarged the Senate and altered its method of election, allowing the amendment to be successfully enacted.
The first election for the South African Senate took place as a result of the creation of the Union of South Africa through the South Africa Act 1909. The Act included special provisions for the selection of the first elected Senators. The Union Parliament was prohibited from changing the arrangements for the Senate during its first ten years.
The 1955 election for the sixth Senate of South Africa occurred because of the wish of National Party Prime Minister Johannes Strijdom to amend one of the entrenched clauses in the Constitution, to separate Coloured voters from whites. However, since his party did not have the constitutionally required two-thirds majority in a joint session of both houses of Parliament, it was decided to alter the composition and electoral system for the Senate, to enable the Separate Representation of Voters Act 1951 to be validated. Consequently, Strijdom had the Senate Act 1955 passed to amend the constitution.
The election for the eighth Senate of South Africa took place on November 26, 1965, the first election to that body to be held under the 1961 republican constitution and the first in which a representative of the coloured community was not elected. The result was a victory for the ruling National Party, winning 30 out of the 43 elected seats and 40 out of the total 53 seats.
The election for the ninth Senate of South Africa took place on November 16, 1970. The result was a victory for the ruling National Party, winning 31 out of the 44 elected seats and 41 out of the total 54 seats.
The election for the tenth Senate of South Africa took place on May 30, 1974. The result was a victory for the ruling National Party, winning 32 out of the 44 elected seats and 42 out of the total 54 seats. This was the final election for the Senate before it was abolished in 1980 and replaced by the President's Council, an advisory body to the State President designed to draft a new constitution that would allow more political participation to the colored and Indian populations in South Africa.
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