1948 South African general election
Due to a racially segregated election system and restrictive franchise requirements, the electorate consisted almost exclusively of white people (who were roughly 20% of the population).The HNP, realising that many White South Africans felt threatened by black political aspirations, pledged to implement a policy of strict racial segregation in all spheres of living.In contrast to the HNP's consistent, straightforward platform, the UP supported vague notions of slowly integrating the different racial groups within South Africa.Smuts and his followers were in favour of a pragmatic approach, arguing that racial integration was inevitable and that the government should thus relax regulations which sought to prevent black people from moving into urban areas.In contrast to this seemingly vague ideology, the HNP advanced the notion of further strictly enforced segregation between races and the total disempowerment of black South Africans.Because the UP had seemed to take a fairly lukewarm stance towards both integration and segregation, the HNP was able to argue that a victory for the UP would ultimately lead to a black government in South Africa.HNP propaganda linked black political power to communism and socialism, an anathema to many white South Africans at the time.[5] Much was made of the fact that Smuts had developed a good working relationship with Joseph Stalin during World War II, when South Africa and the USSR were allies in the fight against Nazi Germany.A staunchly pro-republic stance alienated moderate Afrikaners who had supported South Africa's participation in World War II and wished to achieve reconciliation between their own people and English speakers.When the HNP agreed to compromise its fiercely republican standpoint, conceding that South Africa should remain a Dominion in the Commonwealth, many Afrikaner UP supporters switched allegiance.
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