The 1977 South African general election was held on 30 November 1977. 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...

, led by John Vorster won a landslide

Landslide

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...

 victory in the 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...

. The newly formed Progressive Federal Party

Progressive Federal Party

The Progressive Federal Party was a South African political party formed in 1977. It advocated power-sharing in South Africa through a federal constitution, in place of apartheid...

, led by Colin Eglin

Colin Eglin

Colin Wells Eglin is a South African politician who is best known for having served as national leader of the opposition from 1977–79 and 1986-87...

 became the official opposition. The New Republic Party, successor to the 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...

, won only 10 seats, all but one of them in Natal Province

Natal Province

Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...

. Once again, the 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:...

 failed to win any seats.

In the 1977 elections the National Party got its best-ever result in the elections with support of 64.8% of the white voters and 134 seats in parliament out of 165. Vorster, however resigned as Prime Minister for alleged health reasons, not even a year later on 28 September 1978.

Results

Summary of the 30 November 1977 South African general election results
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=2 align=left valign=top|Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|%Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Change
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|%Seats
|-
|bgcolor="darkblue"| 
| align=left| 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...

| align=right|689 108
| align=right|64.8%
| align=right | 134
| align=right | +15
| align=right | 81.2%
|-
|bgcolor="#0000FF"| 
| align=left|Progressive Federal Party

Progressive Federal Party

The Progressive Federal Party was a South African political party formed in 1977. It advocated power-sharing in South Africa through a federal constitution, in place of apartheid...

| align=right|177 705
| align=right|16.7%
| align=right | 17
| align=right | +11
| align=right | 10.3%
|-
|bgcolor="#007BA7"| 
| align=left|New Republic Party

New Republic Party

The New Republic Party was a South African political party. It was formed as the successor to the disbanded United Party in 1977. After the UP wound up, initially the last UP leader, Sir de Villiers Graaff served as the interim national leader of the new party, with Radclyffe Cadman as...

| align=right|123 245
| align=right|12.1%
| align=right | 10
| align=right | -31
| align=right | 6.1%
|-
|bgcolor="#CC5500"| 
| align=left|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:...

| align=right|34 161
| align=right|3.2%
| align=right | 0
| align=right | ±0
| align=right | 0.0%
|-
|bgcolor="#00CED1"| 
| align=left|South African Party

South African Party

The South African Party was a political party that existed in the Union of South Africa from 1911 to 1934.-History:The outline and foundation for the party was realized after the election of a 'South African party' in the 1910 South African general election under the leadership of Louis Botha...

| align=right|17 915
| align=right|1.7%
| align=right | 3
| align=right | +3
| align=right | 2.2%
|-
|bgcolor="gray"| 
| align=left|Others
| align=right|6 171
| align=right|0.6%
| align=right | 1
| align=right | +0
| align=right | 0.6%
|-
|
| align=left|Total
| align=right |
| align=right |100.0%
| align=right | 165
| align=right | -1
| align=right | 100.0%
|}

Sources

African elections