About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Democratic Party (DP)

This left-of-centre party, with a largely white membership, advocated the principles of liberal democracy and a free market system. It was formed in 1989 when Zach de Beer's Progressive Federal Party* (PFP), the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and the Independent Party (ID), merged in a belated attempt to form a more effective organization in opposition to the NP* government. In the election later that same year the DP increased its number of seats in the House of Assembly from 20 to 33. Its representatives then participated with some distinction in the negotiating process but fared very poorly in the 1994 elections. It rejected Mandela's 1997 offer to join the Government of National Unity.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.