Pretoria District North (House of Assembly of South Africa constituency)

Pretoria District North
Pretoria-Distrik-Noord
Former constituency for the South African House of Assembly
Province	Transvaal
Electorate	2,524 (1924)
Former constituency
Created	1910
Abolished	1929
Number of members	1
Last MHA	Harm Oost (NP)
Replaced by	Pretoria District

Pretoria District North (Afrikaans: Pretoria-Distrik-Noord) was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1929. It covered a rural area to the north of Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.

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 Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal 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

Pretoria District North, like most of the rural Transvaal, had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate, but it was influenced by its proximity to the capital. Its first MP, Thomas Cullinan, was a mine owner and the namesake of the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever discovered. He represented the provincial Het Volk party, which later merged into the South African Party, and lost the seat in 1915 but regained it in 1920. It was held by the National Party in its last two elections, and its final MP, Harm Oost, was re-elected to represent the unified Pretoria District seat in 1929.

Members

Election		Member	Party
	1910	Thomas Cullinan	Het Volk
	1915	J. A. Joubert	National
	1920	Thomas Cullinan	South African
	1921	J. A. Joubert	National
	1924	Harm Oost
	1929	constituency abolished

^{[2] [3]}

Detailed results

Elections in the 1910s

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

General election 1910: Pretoria District North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Het Volk	Thomas Cullinan	1,138	61.1	New
	Labour	J. T. Bain	538	28.9	New
	Independent	I. Haarhoff	188	10.1	New
Majority			600	32.2	N/A
	Het Volk win (new seat)

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

General election 1915: Pretoria District North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. A. Joubert	826	50.8	New
	South African	Thomas Cullinan	800	49.2	−11.9
Majority			26	1.6	N/A
Turnout			1,626	77.1	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 § Pretoria District North.[ edit ]

General election 1920: Pretoria District North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	South African	Thomas Cullinan	987	49.8	+0.6
	National	J. A. Joubert	976	49.2	−1.6
	Independent	W. T. Nourse	20	1.0	New
Majority			11	0.6	N/A
Turnout			1,983	66.0	−11.1
	South African gain from National		Swing	+1.1

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

General election 1921: Pretoria District North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	J. A. Joubert	1,165	51.7	+2.5
	South African	W. Teichman	1,088	48.3	−1.5
Majority			77	3.4	N/A
Turnout			2,253	69.2	+3.2
	National gain from South African		Swing	+2.0

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 1924 South African general election § Pretoria District North.[ edit ]

General election 1924: Pretoria District North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Harm Oost	1,165	58.8	+7.1
	South African	W. R. F. Teichman	794	40.1	−8.2
Rejected ballots			23	1.1	N/A
Majority			371	18.7	+15.3
Turnout			1,982	78.5	+9.3
	National hold		Swing	+7.7

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).