Harrismith (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Harrismith
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Orange Free State
Electorate	9,845 (1970)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1974
Number of members	1
Last MHA	J. J. Rall (NP)

Harrismith was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1974. Named after the town of Harrismith, the seat covered a large rural area in the east of the province, bordering Natal. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly.

Franchise notes

When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Orange River Colony, and its predecessor the Orange Free State, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Orange Free State Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. ^[1]

History

Harrismith, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. It was held nearly throughout its existence by the National Party, whose founding leader, J. B. M. Hertzog, was enormously popular with the Free State's Afrikaner population. The only exceptions were periods where the NP didn't exist: at the inaugural Union election in 1910, at which point Hertzog was still part of the provincial Orangia Unie party, and during the 1934–38 period, after Hertzog and Jan Smuts joined forces to create the United Party. This move was controversial with Hertzog's conservative Afrikaner base, many of whom joined the Purified National Party under D. F. Malan, and when Harrismith's pro-Hertzog MP stood down at the 1938 general election, the PNP narrowly won the seat. It returned to its position as an NP safe seat immediately afterwards, and the party never again faced a serious challenge.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	I. J. Meyer	Orangia Unie
	1915	Z. J. de Beer	National
	1920
	1921	A. A. Cilliers
	1924
	1929
	1933
	1934		United
	1938	E. R. Strauss	PNP
	1943		HNP
	1948
	1949 by	S. F. Papenfus
	1953		National
	1958
	1961	J. J. Rall
	1966
	1970
	1974	constituency abolished

^{[2] [3]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1910 South African general election § Harrismith.[ edit ]

General election 1910: Harrismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Orangia Unie	I. J. Meyer	Unopposed
	Orangia Unie win (new seat)

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1915 South African general election § Harrismith.[ edit ]

General election 1915: Harrismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Z. J. de Beer	999	54.6	New
	South African	L. P. H. Botha	832	45.4	N/A
Majority			167	9.2	N/A
Turnout			1,831	77.5	N/A
	National gain from South African		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1920 South African general election § Harrismith.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Harrismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Z. J. de Beer	1,312	64.1	+9.5
	South African	J. P. G. Steyl	736	35.9	−9.5
Majority			576	28.2	+19.0
Turnout			2,048	69.5	−8.0
	National hold		Swing	+9.5

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1921 South African general election § Harrismith.[ edit ]

General election 1921: Harrismith

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	A. A. Cilliers	1,394	65.2	+1.1
	South African	M. J. Beukes	743	34.8	−1.1
Majority			651	30.4	+2.2
Turnout			2,137	68.9	−0.6
	National hold		Swing	+1.1

References

1. "EISA South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements". Eisa.org.za. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
2. Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies.
3. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).