Hoopstad (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Hoopstad
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Orange Free State
Electorate	6,359 (1943)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1948
Number of members	1
Last MHA	H. S. Erasmus (NP)
Replaced by	Boshof-Hoopstad

Hoopstad was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1948. Named after the town of Hoopstad, the seat covered a rural area in the northwest of the province. 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

Hoopstad, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. Its first MP, Hendrik Schalk Theron, had led Boer forces during the South African War, and served in Louis Botha's cabinet starting in 1913. In 1915 Theron, a member of Botha's South African Party, was defeated for re-election by Frederick Jacob Rheeder of the newly founded National Party.

Hoopstad remained a safe Nationalist seat for the next twenty years, until 1934, when the party split in two after Nationalist Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog decided to join forces with Jan Smuts to create the United Party. While many conservative Afrikaners broke away from the new party to form the Purified National Party under D. F. Malan's leadership, Hoopstad MP Johannes Hendrikus Viljoen stayed loyal to Hertzog and successfully defended his seat at the 1938 general election. Like many of his ex-Nationalist colleagues, however, he broke away once Smuts took over the party and led South Africa into World War II, joining Nicolaas Havenga's Afrikaner Party and contesting his seat under that label in 1943. In that election, Hoopstad's last as a constituency, Viljoen placed third and the Herenigde Nasionale Party took the seat with Hendrik Schalk Erasmus. In 1948, Hoopstad was combined with the neighbouring seat of Boshof, and Erasmus was elected to the combined seat.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Hendrik Schalk Theron	Orangia Unie
	1915	F. J. Rheeder	National
	1920	E. A. Conroy
	1921
	1924
	1929
	1933	J. H. Viljoen
	1934		United
	1938
	1940		Afrikaner
	1943	H. S. Erasmus	HNP
	1948	constituency abolished

^{[2] [3]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Hoopstad

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Orangia Unie	Hendrik Schalk Theron	Unopposed
	Orangia Unie win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Hoopstad

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	F. J. Rheeders	1,069	62.8	New
	South African	Hendrik Schalk Theron	633	37.2	N/A
Majority			436	25.6	N/A
Turnout			1,702	73.6	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 § Hoopstad.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Hoopstad

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	E. A. Conroy	1,155	68.1	+5.3
	South African	P. G. Theron	540	31.9	−5.3
Majority			615	36.2	+10.6
Turnout			1,695	62.2	−11.4
	National hold		Swing	+5.3

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

General election 1921: Hoopstad

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	E. A. Conroy	1,280	69.3	+1.2
	South African	Hendrik Schalk Theron	567	30.7	−1.2
Majority			615	38.6	+2.4
Turnout			1,847	64.3	+2.1
	National hold		Swing	+1.2

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).