17th South African Parliament
Do not use {{Draft article}} in mainspace
| 17th South African Parliament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Overview | |||||
| Jurisdiction | South Africa | ||||
| Meeting place | Cape Town | ||||
| Senate of South Africa | |||||
Composition of the Senate | |||||
| Members | 51 | ||||
| President of the Senate of South Africa | Marais Viljoen (until 18 June 1979) Jimmy Kruger (18 June 1979-31 December 1980) | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | H. F. B. Oelrich | ||||
| House of Assembly of South Africa | |||||
Composition of the House of Assembly | |||||
| Members | 165 | ||||
| Speaker of the House of Assembly of South Africa | Jannie Loots | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Colin Eglin (until 1979) Frederik van Zyl Slabbert (from 1979) | ||||
| Terms of the Parliament of South Africa |
|---|
The 17th South African Parliament was the seventeenth Parliament of South Africa to convene since the unification of South Africa in 1910 and the fifth to convene since the adoption of the republican constitution in 1961. It was constituted as a bicameral parliament, consisting of the Senate elected in the 1974 Senate election and the House of Assembly elected in the 1977 general election. The Senate contained 51 senators and the House of Assembly 165 members. The Senate was abolished effective 1 January 1981, while the House of Assembly continued to sit as a unicameral parliament for another three months, until the 1981 general election.
Four parties were represented in this parliament: the National Party (NP), the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), the New Republic Party (NRP), and the South African Party (SAP). The National Party held wide majorities in both houses: 42 out of 54 seats in the Senate and 134 out of 165 seats in the House of Assembly.