The 1970 South African general election was held on 22 April for the 166-seat House of Assembly

House of Assembly of South Africa

The House of Assembly was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1984, and latterly the white representative house of the Tricameral Parliament from 1984 to 1994, when it was replaced by the current National Assembly...

. Parliament was dissolved on 2 March and the deadline for the submission of candidates was 13 March. This was the first time in South African history that the House elected was responsible entirely to white people, as the seats of the four MPs elected separately by "qualified" Cape Coloured expired in the same year.

The election saw yet another victory for the National Party

National Party (South Africa)

The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...

 (NP), for the first time under the leadership of John Vorster, and saw a number of new representatives elected, including Chris Heunis

Chris Heunis

Jan Christiaan Heunis was a South African Afrikaner lawyer, politician, member of the National Party and former minister in the governments of John Vorster and P.W. Botha....

, future Acting President and Pik Botha

Pik Botha

Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha is a former South African politician who served as the country's foreign minister in the last years of the apartheid era...

, future Minister of Foreign Affairs for 17 years, who made his maiden speech demanding that the government sign the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

However, the NP lost some support for the first time since the 1948 election

South African general election, 1948

The parliamentary election in South Africa on 26 May 1948 represented a turning point in the country's history. The United Party, which had led the government since its foundation in 1933 and its leader, incumbent Prime Minister Jan Smuts was ousted by the Reunited National Party , led by Daniel...

 and its number of seats was reduced by eight. This could be attributed to losing votes to the right-wing splinter Herstigte Nasionale Party

Herstigte Nasionale Party

The Herstigte Nasionale Party van Suid-Afrika was formed as a right-wing splinter group of the South African National Party.-Formation:...

 (Reconstituted National Party), which never succeded to win any seats, however.

Helen Suzman

Helen Suzman

Helen Suzman, DBE was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.-Biography:Helen Suzman, a life-long citizen of South Africa, was born as Helen Gavronsky in 1917 to Jewish immigrants....

, member of parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Houghton

Houghton Estate, Gauteng

Houghton Estate, often simply called Houghton is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, north-east of the city centre. Part of it is located in Region 3, the other part in Region 4 ....

, retained her seat as the sole representative of the liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 Progressive Party

Progressive Party (South Africa)

The Progressive Party was a liberal party in South Africa that opposed the ruling National Party's policies of apartheid, and championed the Rule of Law. For years its only member of parliament was Helen Suzman...

.

House of Assembly results

Elections were held in 155 of the 166 constituencies (11 members elected unopposed). There were 2 028 487 registered voters and 1 508 248 votes were cast (74.7% of voters in contested constituencies).

Party		Leader	Candidates	Votes	%Votes	Seats	%Seats	Previous	Change
	National Party National Party (South Africa) The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...	John Vorster	145	820 968	54.43%	118	71.1%	126	-8
	United Party United Party (South Africa) The United Party was South Africa's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. It was formed by a merger of most of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party...	De Villiers Graaff	149	561 647	37.23%	47	28.3%	39	+8
	Herstigte Nasionale Party Herstigte Nasionale Party The Herstigte Nasionale Party van Suid-Afrika was formed as a right-wing splinter group of the South African National Party.-Formation:...	Albert Hertzog	80	53 763	3.57%	0	0.0%	0	±0
	Progressive Party Progressive Party (South Africa) The Progressive Party was a liberal party in South Africa that opposed the ruling National Party's policies of apartheid, and championed the Rule of Law. For years its only member of parliament was Helen Suzman...	Jan Steytler Jan Steytler Jan van Aswegen Steytler was a liberal South African politician and the first leader of the Progressive Party . He was born in Burgersdorp, in the then Cape Province now Eastern Cape Province.-Background:...	19	51 760	3.43%	1 Helen Suzman Helen Suzman, DBE was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.-Biography:Helen Suzman, a life-long citizen of South Africa, was born as Helen Gavronsky in 1917 to Jewish immigrants....	0.6%	1	±0
	Independents		14	9 622	1.35%	0	0.0%	0	±0
Total valid			407	1 497 760	100.0%	166	100.0%	166	-
Spoilt votes				10 524
Total votes				1 508 284

* one seat was filled in a subsequent by-election

Sources