Botha wins, but loses votes to Left and Right

Press, 1 May 1981, Page 6

Botha wins, but loses votes to Left and Right

NZPA-Reuter Johannesburg i South Africa’s ruling National party swept back into power yesterday but was rocked by the loss of General Election votes to Left and Right and the defeat of the Minister of Industries and Tourism (Dr Dawie de Villiers).

With 105 of the 151 seats at stake in yesterday’s Parliamentary election decided, the National Party was assured of five more years of rule by winning an over-all majority with 83 seats. Fourteen candidates had already been returned unopposed to the 165-seat Parliament.

But the results can hardly have pleased the Prime Minister (Mr Pieter Botha). The opposition Progressive Federal Party, which is committed to ending the country’s apartheid policies, grabbed at least two Government seats, including the one contested by Dr De Villiers. The Progressive Federal Party captured the Pinetown • '"tituency in Natal from the National Party to increase its share of the seats declared so far to 19. At the dissolution of parliament it held 18 seats to National’s 137.

The election was a crucial test of Mr Botha’s promises of racial reform and another fierce challenge came from the extreme Right-wing Herstigte Nasionale party, which carried off thousands of votes in several Government strongholds.

But the H.N.P., formed nearly 20 years ago and opposed to racial integration under its fiery ultra-con-servative leader, Mr Jaap Marais, failed to win its first Parliamentary seat. The Progressive Party reinforced its position as the official Opposition by also taking at least three seats from the rival New Republic Party, a minor group which suffered heavy setbacks for the second successive election and faces virtual extinction with only three seats assured.

The Progressive Party’s most significant victory was in the Cape Town constituency of Gardens, where Dr de Villiers became the first Cabinet minister to lose an election since the National Party came to power in 1948. Dr de Villiers was brought into the Cabinet last year after being Ambassador to London and has 12 months from his appointment to win election to Parliament.

South African Broadcasting Corporation computers said the National Party’s share of the poll had dropped 14 per cent from the 1977 General Election, when the since disgraced Prime Minister, John Vorster, led the party to a landslide victory with 134 seats. ,

Political analysts said the National Party had been hurt by abstentions. Early results showed that about 63 per cent of the 2.2 million white voters had gone to the polls

compared with a turnout of 64.8 per cent at the last election.

The H.N.P., which has grown rapidly in strength as the Government has raised suggestions of racial reform, had increased its percentage of the poll by 8.6 per cent, according to the computer figures. But Mr Marais failed to unseat the Transvaal National Party leader, Dr Andries Treurnicht — the Government’s most outspoken champion of consevatism — in a closely fought contest in the rural northern Transvaaal constituency of Waterberg. The S.A.B.C. computers said the Progressive Party increased its share of the vote by 6.2 per cent from the 16.7 it captured four years ago. In the Mozambique capital of Maputo, the banned African National Congress of South Africa pledged yesterday to continue armed attacks on apartheid until it achieved one-man-one-vote. The A.N.C. said that in yesterday’s elections 75 per cent of the population were not allowed to vote.

In Johannesburg, Coloured (mixed race students boycotted classes at high schools in protest against the denial of the right to vote for their parents. The police said they were monitoring the situation but were keeping in the background and there had been no incidents.