Elections to the South West African Legislative Assembly 1926

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Parliamentary election
in South West Africa, 19261929 →
(Share of votes in%)
 %
30th
20th
10
0
26.12
23.69
21.25
28.94
Independent

The elections to the South West African Legislative Assembly in 1926 were the first (of nine) elections in the Mandate South West Africa .

prehistory

The German colony Deutsch-Südwestafrika was assigned to the administration of South Africa as a League of Nations mandate in South West Africa in 1919 in accordance with the provisions of the Versailles Peace Treaty .

In the course of the subsequent "South Africanization" of the southwest, around half of the 15,000 Germans still living there were expelled and their farms were handed over to South Africans. South Africa's policy, known as “de-Germanization”, only changed with the London Agreement of October 23, 1923, according to which the Germans remaining in the country were offered British citizenship and immigration from Germany and the expansion of the German language were strongly encouraged. 258 Germans refused British citizenship, 2873 German Namibians made use of the possibility of changing citizenship.

On July 21, 1925, the Parliament of the Union of South Africa approved the constitution for South West Africa, the South West Africa Constitution Act, No. 42 of 1925

The Constitution created the legal basis for a legislative assembly (Legislative Assembly) and the Cabinet (Executive Committee) in South West Africa. The parliament thus consisted of 18 members, 12 of whom were elected and 6 by appointment. Only the whites were entitled to vote, not the native majority population.

Constituencies

Elections were made in 12 one-person constituencies. The definition of the constituency boundaries was correspondingly important. A constituency commission chaired by Chief Justice Dr. G. van Pittius, who on the German side belonged to the farmer JG Lemmers and Baron Kraus, the editor of the German-language " Allgemeine Zeitung " in Windhoek, agreed the following constituencies:

No. German name Voters of which Union votes including Germans
1 Gibeon 509 416 93
2 Gobabis 487 287 93
3 Grootfontein 467 127 340
4th Keetmanshoop 542 452 90
5 Kolmanskop 545 64 390
6th Lüderitz Bay 434 163 271
7th Okahandja 509 193 316
8th Omaruru 517 254 263
9 Swakopmund 537 267 270
10 Warm bath 527 477 50
11 Windhoek Central 562 226 336
12 Windhoek District 548 395 153

Parties

The electoral law stipulated that candidates had to leave a deposit of £ 50. This deposit expired if the candidate received less than 20% of the vote. This deterred individual candidates and splinter parties. Accordingly, there were only 28 candidates, including 12 Germans and 16 Union members. The Germans ran for membership in the German Confederation . There were also two German Social Democrats in the constituency of Swakopmund (Carl Schmidt, he received 23 votes and forfeited the deposit) and Windhuk-Zentral (Johann Felden, who received 87 votes and came in over 20%). The Union members were organized on the one hand in the National Party and on the other hand in the South West Party .

Election results by constituency

The election for the first South West African Legislative Assembly (SWALA) took place on May 25, 1926 and resulted in 7 Germans and 5 Unionists having been elected. The turnout was 76.5%.

No. Constituency MP nationality Political party Voters valid votes voter turnout Votes for the winner
1 Gibeon Cornelis Johannes Frederik Grobler unionist SWP 509 333 66% 158
2 Gobabis Frikkie Jooste unionist NPSWA 487 368 76% 233
3 Grootfontein Director Friedrich Wilhelm Kegel German DB 467 366 79% 278
4th Keetmanshoop Farmer Barend Jacobus Espach unionist NPSWA 542 426 79% 210
5 Kolmanskop Wilhelm Heinrich Fischer German DB 545 ./ ./ Sole candidate
6th Lüderitz Bay Hans Bruno Karl millet grain German DB 434 ./ ./ Sole candidate
7th Okahandja Albert Voigts German DB 509 421 83% 271
8th Omaruru Carl Friedrich Theodor Westenfeld German DB 517 436 84% 231
9 Swakopmund Robert Richard Rudolf Blank German DB 537 418 80% 210
10 Warm bath Farmer Christiaan Hieronymus Oberholzer unionist NPSWA 527 391 75% 232
11 Windhoek Central Chamber of Commerce President Peter Müller German DB 562 391 75% 307
12 Windhoek District Diederik William Ferdinand Egbertus Ballot unionist SWP 548 395 72% 278

In Gobabis and Swakopmund, a constituency agreement between the National Party and the German Confederation was concluded. Afterwards the German Federation supported the candidate of the National Party against the Southwest Party in Gobabis and the National Party supported the German candidate in Swakopmund.

After the election, the South African administrator Johannes Werth appointed two Germans and four Unionists as additional members. Framer Paul Guhr and August Stauch from Windhoek were appointed as German MPs . So there was a tie in parliament with 9 Germans and 9 Unionists. The following unionists were appointed: Izak Jacobus Johannes Buys , George Curtis , Johannes Gerhardius de Wet , Cornelius Jacobus van Tonder . Appointed Member George Curtis was elected President of Parliament.

The Legislative Assembly elected four members from among its ranks as members of the Executive Committee:

  • Diederik William Ferdinand Egbertus Ballot
  • Frikkie Jooste
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Kegel
  • Albert Voigts

See also

literature

  • Fritz Wertheimer : From German parties and party leaders abroad. 1927, p. 235 ff.
  • Report of the Administrator of South West Africa for the year 1926, p. 4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Victor L. Tonchi, William A. Lindeke, John J. Grotpeter: Historical dictionary of Namibia. (= African historical dictionaries. No. 57). Metuchen 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-5398-0 . (English)