RR7015 SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS

(12 Apr 1970) RR7015: SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS

On April 22nd 1970, over two million South African
voters (all of them white) will go to the polls to elect a
new Parliament. The ruling Afrikaaner-supported
Nationalist Party, which has been in power for over 20
years, is expected to retain its commanding majority
in the Assembly. But Nationalist Prime Minister John
Vorster is faced with a challenge from the Herstigte
Nasionale Party, or HNP - a small right-wing group of
breakaway Nationalists who accuse him of pursuing
dangerously liberal policies which are watering down
the sacred principles of apartheid. The group is led by
Dr. Albert Hertzog, a fanatical Calvinist who seeks to
preserve, above all, the racial and religious purity of
the Afrikaaners. At the other end of the political
spectrum, the tiny Progressive Party, which stands
solidly against apartheid, is in danger of losing the
one seat it possesses. In the middle is the United
Party, led by Sir De Villiers Graaff, which may lose
votes to the Nationalists. This background to the
elections includes shots of the rarely-filmed
Dr.Hertzog, as well as an interview with Mr.Jaap Marais,
his chief lieutenant and HNP spokesman. There are
also interviews with Mrs. Helen Suzman, the Progres
sive MP and with Mr. Carel Noffke, editor of the pro-
government paper "Die Transvaaler". All interviews
are in English.

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