Rouxville was a constituency in the Orange Free State Province of South Africa, which existed from 1910 to 1924. Named after the town of Rouxville, the seat covered a rural area in the south of the province, along the border with the Cape Province and Lesotho. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly. Franchise notes When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Orange River Colony, and its predecessor the Orange Free State, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Orange Free State Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.

History Rouxville, like most of the Orange Free State, was a highly conservative seat throughout its existence and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. Its first MP, George Louis Steytler, was elected for the provincial Orangia Unie party, which swept the province in the first Union elections in 1910. In 1915, again like most of the Free State, it fell to the National Party, whose leader J. B. M. Hertzog enjoyed widespread popularity in the province. Daniël Hugo of the NP would represent the seat for the remainder of its existence, despite attempts by Steytler to regain it for the South African Party. In 1924, the constituency was abolished, with Rouxville itself being merged with Hertzog's seat of Smithfield, while Hugo stood for and won the new seat of Wepener.

Members ElectionMemberParty 1910 G. L. Steytler Orangia Unie 1915 Daniël Hugo National 1920 1921 1924 constituency abolished Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou).

Detailed results Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1920s

References