1959 Northern Rhodesian general election

General elections were held in Northern Rhodesia on 20 March 1959, although voting did not take place in two constituencies until 9 April. The United Federal Party (UFP) was expected to win the elections, and did so by taking 13 of the 22 elected seats on the Legislative Council.

Electoral system

The elections were the first held under the Lennox-Boyd constitution. It provided for a 30-member Legislative Council with 22 elected members, six official members and two appointed members. The 22 elected seats were divided into 12 "ordinary" seats with mostly European voters, six "special" seats mainly reserved for African voters, two reserved for African candidates and two reserved for European candidates. "Ordinary" voters had to have at least four years of secondary education and either an income of at least £300 a year or own property worth £500. They could also qualify by having primary education and earning at least £480 a year or owning £1,000 of property, or for those not meeting the educational requirements, have an annual income of at least £720 or own over £1,500 of property. Certain people were automatically entitled to register as "ordinary voters", including ministers of religion, chiefs recognised by the Governor and wives of anyone qualified as an "ordinary" voter (although in the case of polygamous marriages, only the senior wife qualified). "Special" voters had to have at least two years of secondary education and an income of at least £120 a year, or have an income of at least £150 or own property worth £500 or more. Automatic qualification as a "special" voter was given to pensioners receiving a monthly or annual pension for at least 20 years' service for one employer, headmen or hereditary councillors with at least two years of unpaid service and who were recognised by their chief, or be the wife (or senior wife) of any qualified "special" voter. All voters had to be over 21, able to complete their registration form in English and have lived in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland for at two years and in their constituency for three months.

The African reserved seats were created by combining several ordinary seats, whilst the European reserved seats were based on combinations of the special seats. Every voter had two votes, one for their special or ordinary constituency member, and one for their reserved member. In the ordinary and European reserved seats, special votes were not allowed to account for more than a third of the total.

A total of 30,234 people were registered to vote, up from 15,505 for the 1954 elections. Of the 23,388 "ordinary" voters, 20,546 were Europeans, 2,046 Indians and 796 Africans. The 6,846 special voters included 6,821 Africans, 20 Europeans and five Indians.

Constituencies
Ordinary	Reserved African	Ordinary voters	Special voters
Broken Hill	South Central	2,208	394
Livingstone		1,200	140
Lusaka Central		1,428	102
Lusaka East		1,503	289
Lusaka West		2,483	163
Southern		1,243	381
Chingola	Copperbelt	1,317	325
Kitwe East		1,485	195
Kitwe West		1,672	366
Luanshya		2,296	275
Mufulira		1,729	403
Ndola		2,943	267
Special	Reserved European	Ordinary voters	Special voters
Barotseland	Western Rural	239	488
North Western		187	637
South Western		197	620
Eastern	Eastern Rural	686	790
Luapula		306	473
Northern		266	538
Total		23,388	6,846
Source: East Africa and Rhodesia

Campaign

A total of 54 candidates contested the elections, of which 20 were African. Four parties ran in the election, with the UFP led by John Roberts putting forward 18 candidates, the Dominion Party 10, the Central Africa Party led by John Moffat seven and the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress led by Harry Nkumbula one (Nkumbula himself). Seventeen candidates ran as independents, with one running as a Central Africa Party independent. The Zambian African National Congress, a breakaway from the NRANC, called for a boycott. The UFP were unopposed in two seats. No candidates were nominated for the Northern and Luapula Special constituencies, requiring nominations to be reopened until 19 March.

The UFP held a centrist position, supporting dominion status for the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and opposing the British Colonial Office (reflecting the views of most white Northern Rhodesians). The Dominion Party put forward a right-wing platform including supporting a partition of the Federation into European and African areas. The Central Africa Party ran on a liberal platform.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	United Federal Party	17,376	51.69	13	+3
	Dominion Party	4,055	12.06	1	New
	Central Africa Party	3,402	10.12	3	New
	Northern Rhodesian African National Congress	572	1.70	1	New
	Independent Central Africa Party	247	0.73	1	New
	Independents	7,964	23.69	1	–1
Vacant				2	–
Total		33,616	100.00	22	+10
Source: Northern Rhodesia Election Office

By voter roll

Party	Ordinary seats			Special seats			African seats			European seats			Total seats
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
United Federal Party	8,540	59.37	11	421	14.30	0	7,855	53.58	2	560	34.40	0	13
Dominion Party	3,329	23.14	1	−	−	−	726	4.95	0	−	−	−	1
Central Africa Party	976	6.78	0	571	19.40	1	787	5.37	0	1,068	65.60	2	3
Northern Rhodesian African National Congress	−	−	−	572	19.43	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
Independent Central Africa Party	–	–	–	247	8.39	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Independents	1,540	10.71	0	1,133	38.49	1	5,291	36.09	0	–	–	–	2
Vacant	–	–	–	–	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2
Invalid/blank votes	268	–	–		–	–	752	–	–		–	–	–
Total	14,653	100	12	2,944	100	6	15,411	100	2	1,628	100	2	22
Registered voters/turnout	21,825	67.14	–	3,844		–			–			–	–
Source: Northern Rhodesia Election Office

By constituency

Constituency		Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Ordinary	Broken Hill	John Roberts	United Federal Party	1,275	74.43
		Gladys Douglas	Independent	438	25.57
	Chingola	William Gray Dunlop	United Federal Party	Unopposed
	Kitwe East	Hugh Stanley	United Federal Party	831	77.95
		Francis Smith	Dominion Party	235	22.05
	Kitwe West	Jerry Steyn	United Federal Party	890	57.09
		Cecil Earl	Dominion Party	669	42.91
	Livingstone	Maurice Rabb	United Federal Party	Unopposed
	Luanshya	Rodney Malcomson	United Federal Party	1,208	74.38
		Robert Greer	Dominion Party	416	25.62
	Lusaka Central	Ernest Sergeant	United Federal Party	607	62.64
		Donald Clarke	Independent	188	19.40
		Frederick Gray	Independent	121	12.49
		Cyril Thatcher	Dominion Party	53	5.47
	Lusaka East	Ebden Carlisle	United Federal Party	562	46.18
		Alexander Scott	Independent	405	33.28
		Charles Fleming	Dominion Party	235	19.31
		Irene Buchanan	Independent	15	1.23
	Lusaka West	Eric Grindley-Ferris	United Federal Party	735	42.58
		Ralph Seal	Central Africa Party	336	19.47
		Frank Derby	Dominion Party	282	16.34
		Douglas Edmonds	Independent	271	16.34
		Margaretha Seibritz	Independent	102	5.91
	Mufulira	Pieter Wulff	United Federal Party	734	52.32
		Bertram Redmond	Dominion Party	669	47.68
	Ndola	Cecil Dennistoun Burney	United Federal Party	1,094	57.73
		Norman Hunt	Central Africa Party	640	33.77
		William van Zyl	Dominion Party	161	8.50
	Southern	Gert Smith	Dominion Party	609	50.21
		Geoffrey Beckett	United Federal Party	604	49.79
Special	Barotseland	Kwalombota Mulonda	Independent	382	66.90
		Mufaya Mubuna	United Federal Party	168	29.42
		Yuyi Nganga	Independent	21	3.68
	Eastern	Alfred Gondwe	Central Africa Party	398	36.28
		Chiwala Banda	Independent	292	26.62
		Isaac Nkholoma	United Federal Party	253	23.06
		Shadrick Cheme	Independent	154	14.04
	Luapula	No candidate nominated
	North-Western	William Nkanza	Independent Central Africa Party	247	39.02
		Samuel Mbilishi	Independent	213	23.65
		Beston Muluku	Central Africa Party	173	27.33
	Northern	No candidate nominated
	South-Western	Harry Nkumbula	Northern Rhodesian African National Congress	572	88.96
		Robinson Nabulyato	Independent	71	11.04
African Reserved	Copperbelt	Gabriel Musumbulwa	United Federal Party	4,451	58.26
		Lawrence Katilungu	Independent	2,674	35.00
		Robinson Puta	Independent	313	4.10
		Pascale Sokata	Independent	202	2.64
	South Central	William Kazokah	United Federal Party	3,404	48.50
		Safeli Chileshe	Independent	2,102	29.95
		Gwale Habanyama	Central Africa Party	787	11.21
		Noah Chyapeni	Dominion Party	726	10.34
European Reserved	Eastern Rural	John Moffat	Central Africa Party	662	60.90
		Reuben Kidson	United Federal Party	425	39.10
	Western Rural	Harry Franklin	Central Africa Party	406	75.05
		Hugh Mitcheley	United Federal Party	135	24.95
Source: Northern Rhodesia Election Office

By-elections

By-elections were held in the Luapula and Northern Special constituencies on 9 April.

Constituency	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Luapula	Samson Mununga	Independent	234	51.88
	M M Simfukwe		113	25.06
	John Mutale		57	12.64
	G E Tafuna		47	10.42
Northern	Lakement Ngandu	Independent	228	42.22
	M G M Chali		223	41.30
	Mateyo Kakumbi		89	16.48
Source: East Africa and Rhodesia

Aftermath

Following the election, Governor Arthur Benson appointed six ministers; John Roberts as Minister of Labour and Mines, Ebden Carlisle as Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, William Gray Dunlop as Minister of Transport and Works, Rodney Malcomson as Minister of Local Government, Gabriel Musumbulwa as Minister of African Education and Edson Mwamba as Minister of African Agriculture.

See also

• List of members of the Legislative Council of Northern Rhodesia (1959–62)