General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 14 December 1962 to elect 65 members of the Legislative Assembly. The election was notable for bringing to power the Rhodesian Front, initially under Winston Field, which set the colony on the course for its eventual Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

Background The election was the first held under the 1961 constitution which brought in a new electoral system. The chief issue in the elections was the future of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, under which Southern Rhodesia formed a united country with Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, under the leadership of Sir Roy Welensky. The United Federal Party government of Sir Edgar Whitehead favoured continuation of the Federation in some form, together with moves towards multiracialism.

Opponents of the Federation had formed the Dominion Party but coming up to the election, the party had suffered division. The Rhodesia Reform Party had been formed by Ian Smith early in 1962 as a more moderate group. Dominion Party leader William Harper resigned in February 1962, stating that he intended this to be the catalyst towards the creation of a united opposition. By mid-March, the Dominion Party and the Rhodesia Reform Party had put together a broad plan for the new Rhodesian Front with Winston Field, from the Dominion Party, as its leader. Field had to call for unity at the first RF congress in September 1962.

Electoral system The electorate was divided into the 'A roll' and the 'B roll'. The 'A roll' consisted of people meeting certain income and property qualifications, which were lowered if the person had more extensive education. This in practice meant that 95.2% of those on the A roll were of European descent. The 'B roll' which consisted of those meeting a lesser income cap or a lesser property cap, both lowered for those with a longer education. 91.3% of those on the B roll were of African descent, although some Europeans only qualified for this roll. The figures were exaggerated by a largely successful campaign on behalf of black African nationalist leaders to persuade their supporters not to register to boycott the election. Most black Africans did not qualify for either roll anyway.

There were two different types of place returning members to the House of Assembly. The colony was divided into 50 constituencies each returning a single member, and in addition, there were 15 districts which also returned one member each. For the constituencies, voters from the 'A roll' and the 'B roll' could both vote, with their votes of equal value. Due to the fact that the 'A roll' was substantially larger than the 'B roll', these constituencies were almost entirely elected by Rhodesians of European descent. Theoretically, if the 'B roll' votes was more than a quarter of the total, they would be reduced in value to a quarter, but in practice this never happened due to the low enrollment and low turnout.

Both rolls also voted for the district seats. However, the total votes from the 'A roll' were reduced to equal a quarter of those of the 'B roll' voters. This meant that the district seats were largely elected by Africans.

Campaign There was a robust campaign, which all understood as leading to a watershed election. Political meetings saw a great deal of heckling. The RF was keen to reassure nervous voters that it supported some continued links with Northern Rhodesia, and campaigned for tougher enforcement of law and order and security. Both the UFP and the RF supported moves to independence but the RF was more keen, and stated that independence could be either within or without the Commonwealth.

The principal division was on race relations. The UFP leader Sir Edgar Whitehead pledged to appoint Southern Rhodesia's first African Minister should he be re-elected. The RF insisted that the UFP's moves were reckless and endangered Rhodesian society. They saw the 1961 constitution as opening the door to African dominance of Europeans "before the former has acquired adequate knowledge and experience of democratic government" and pointed to Kenya, where Europeans had been forced out of the country, as an example of what might happen. The UFP regarded the RF as reactionaries and throwbacks, and a UFP poster depicted a white man identified as an RF supporter with his head literally in the sand.

Results A win by the UFP was generally expected. The Examiner magazine said "Let no one doubt that the U.F.P. will win hands down; the Establishment always does in Southern Rhodesia." However, much to everyone's surprise (including their own), the RF found itself with a large majority of the Constituencies and an overall majority in the House of Assembly. The UFP took 14 out of 15 of the Districts, with one (Highfield) going to Dr Ahrn Palley as an Independent candidate. The UFP thus numbered 14 Africans out of a caucus of 29, but the party soon ceased to be a force in Rhodesian politics; from 1965 then until the end of minority rule in 1979 no opposition members were elected from the primarily European constituencies, Rhodesia thus would have a dominant party system.

PartyConstituencyDistrictTotalseats+/–A rollB rollTotalA rollA roll devaluedB rollTotalVotes%Votes%Votes%SeatsVotes%Votes%Votes%Votes%Seats Rhodesian Front37,92056.3536215.1138,28254.943535,07054.0335457.1930611.8766020.65035+22 United Federal Party28,51742.381,94681.2230,46343.721528,05543.2324739.901,87072.562,11766.241429+12 Central Africa Party750.11291.211040.1501,7642.72101.6235913.9336911.5500New Independents7761.15592.468351.200150.0281.29421.63501.5611+1Total67,288100.002,396100.0069,684100.005064,904100.00619100.002,577100.003,196100.001565+35Valid votes 69,68497.70 67,48196.13Invalid votes1,6442.302,7143.87Total votes71,328100.0070,195100.00Registered voters/turnout90,785 10,632 101,41770.33 90,785 10,632 101,41769.21Source: Willson

By constituency ConstituencyElectorate and turnoutCandidatePartyA RollB RollTotalVotesVotesVotes%ARUNDELA 1,885 (81.6%)B 13 (38.5%)†Blair Vincent EwingUFP926493060.3Olive Hope RobertsonRF612161339.7AVONDALEA 1,873 (77.0%)B 10 (40.0%)†Albert Rubidge Washington StumblesRF813281556.3Ian Radcliffe SelmerUFP630263243.7BELLEVUEA 1,899 (81.0%)B 7 (28.6%)Robert PattersonRF865186656.2John Gustav Haycraft GassonUFP674167543.8BELVEDEREA 1,800 (77.4%)B 13 (69.2%)Gordon Foster ThomasUFP736874453.0Dennis DivarisRF658165947.0BORROWDALEA 1,914 (78.7%)B 25 (48.0%)†Peter Heaton GreyUFP977998664.9Thomas Ian Fraser SandemanRF530353335.1BRAESIDEA 1,859 (78.5%)B 27 (44.4%)Herbert Douglas TannerRF931493563.6†Michael Eddington CurrieUFP528853636.4BULAWAYO CENTRALA 1,841 (68.1%)B 41 (63.4%)†Benny GoldsteinUFP6282265050.8Norman Munro CampbellRF626463049.2BULAWAYO DISTRICTA 1,765 (70.4%)B 708 (19.6%)Arthur Gale LangfordRF6921070250.8Bryan Roy ThompsonUFP47510057541.6Benjamin BaronCAP75291047.5BULAWAYO EASTA 1,932 (77.8%)B 17 (52.9%)†Abraham Eliezer AbrahamsonUFP1,05771,06470.4Arthur McCarterRF446244829.6BULAWAYO NORTHA 1,810 (76.1%)B 30 (60.0%)John WrathallRF724773152.4†Cyril James HattyUFP6531166447.6BULAWAYO SOUTHA 1,895 (65.8%)B 45 (57.8%)John William PhillipsRF6981170955.7Robert Godlonton HooleUFP5491556444.3CENTRALA 1,669 (73.2%)B 442 (18.8%)†William Joseph John CaryRF8741388768.0Anthony John Arthur PeckUFP3477041732.0CHARTERA 1,611 (71.1%)B 847 (17.1%)Clifford Walter DupontRF8082483264.4Francis Seymour Brian WilloughbyUFP33812145935.6EASTERNA 1,884 (71.3%)B 508 (20.3%)Alan James Wroughton MacLeodRF7681878654.3Charles Fitzwilliam Clifford Verry CadizUFP5768566145.7GATOOMAA 1,561 (72.3%)B 215 (25.6%)†William John HarperRF784578966.6Robert Norman WellsUFP3455039533.4GREENDALEA 1,814 (76.8%)B 195 (7.7%)Mark PartridgeRF779378255.5†Herbert Jack QuintonUFP6151262744.5GREENWOODA 1,869 (71.7%)B 9 (33.3%)William Vernon BrelsfordUFP716171753.4William Johnstone JarvisRF532-53239.6Ivor PitchInd922947.0GWEBIA 1,823 (82.3%)B 254 (25.6%)Lord James Angus GrahamRF995131,00864.4John Derek CrozierUFP5055255735.6GWELOA 1,697 (70.5%)B 26 (61.5%)Desmond Lardner-BurkeRF768677463.8Eileen DoyleUFP4291043936.2GWELO RURALA 1,822 (73.2%)B 143 (18.2%)†Charles Falcon Scott ClarkRF938494269.3John Douglas DownsUFP3952241730.7HARTLEYA 1,551 (78.4%)B 338 (24.0%)P. K. van der BylRF814782163.3Geoffrey Stanhope CourtneyUFP4027447636.7HATFIELDA 1,894 (77.7%)B 20 (20.0%)John GauntRF991499567.4†Stewart Edward Aitken-CadeUFP481-48132.6HIGHLANDS NORTHA 1,760 (81.0%)B 10 (70.0%)Geoffrey Ellman BrownUFP850685659.7William Robert RumboldRF576157740.3HIGHLANDS SOUTHA 1,749 (75.2%)B 17 (58.8%)Alan David ButlerUFP668967751.1Guy Openshaw ListerRF647164848.9HILLCRESTA 1,906 (79.9%)B 9 (55.6%)John Arthur NewingtonRF877388057.6Michael Leib AylUFP646264842.4HILLSIDEA 1,840 (79.9%)B 8 (50.0%)†Maureen Thelma WatsonUFP819382255.7William Redpath KinleysideRF652165344.3JAMESONA 1,805 (77.2%)B 18 (22.2%)Jack HowmanRF864286662.0Josiah Douglas CarterUFP493149435.3William Alfred PorterInd371382.7LOMAGUNDIA 2,041 (75.1%)B 327 (28.4%)Lance Bales SmithRF990131,00361.7Robert Gordon Hoskins-DaviesUFP5428062238.3MABELREIGNA 1,866 (78.8%)B 11 (72.7%)Patrick Palmer-OwenRF882388559.8William Daniel GaleUFP589559440.2MARANDELLASA 1,676 (75.9%)B 354 (25.7%)Winston FieldRF746975555.4John Peacey DankwertsUFP5268260844.6MARLBOROUGHA 1,786 (82.0%)B 14 (64.3%)Harry ReedmanRF938-93863.6†John Desmond BurrowsUFP527953636.4MATOBOA 1,777 (70.2%)B 361 (16.3%)†Harry RobertsRF662867051.3Edward William KirbyUFP5855163648.7MAZOEA 2,048 (79.0%)B 467 (27.0%)George Rollo HaymanRF9561697255.8Neil Patrick HammondUFP66111077144.2MILTON PARKA 1,851 (78.9%)B 14 (35.7%)William Alexander Eustace WintertonUFP868587359.6Dorothy Patricia CooperRF592-59240.4MTOKOA 1,526 (76.3%)B 488 (24.0%)George Roger John HackwillUFP5648965351.0Ronald William RankineRF6002862849.0QUEEN'S PARKA 2,054 (73.7%)B 18 (61.1%)†Ian Finlay McLeanRF1,147101,15775.9Laurence AyersUFP366136724.1QUE QUEA 1,751 (73.6%)B 114 (35.1%)Andrew DunlopRF718572354.4†Morris Isaac HirschUFP5713560645.6RAYLTONA 1,917 (74.1%)B 38 (47.4%)†Thomas Alexander PinchenRF851185259.2Patrick LennonUFP5691758640.8RUSAPEA 1,729 (73.0%)B 580 (26.9%)†Philip van HeerdenRF9621998169.2Patrick Joseph Beary PowerUFP30013743730.8SALISBURY CENTRALA 1,780 (67.2%)B 22 (63.6%)Jeremiah Robert RyanRF621462551.6Ernest Jackson WhitakerUFP5761058648.4SALISBURY CITYA 1,837 (60.7%)B 38 (44.7%)John Roger NicholsonUFP6191263155.7John PlagisRF496550144.3SALISBURY NORTHA 1,935 (76.6%)B 43 (79.1%)†Sir Edgar WhiteheadUFP8713190259.5Nicholas CambitzisRF611361440.5SHABANIA 1,621 (66.7%)B 435 (14.7%)†Ian Birt Harper DillonRF7561176766.0George Edward MoorcroftUFP3173935631.0Ronald John Hayes AuretInd914232.0UMTALI EASTA 1,852 (71.8%)B 11 (100%)Bernard Horace MussetRF805681160.5Leslie Herbert MorrisUFP525553039.5UMTALI WESTA 1,920 (65.1%)B 164 (25.0%)John ChristieRF744875258.2Harold Owen TrouncerUFP5063353941.8UMZINGWANEA 1,827 (70.1%)B 442 (15.6%)Ian SmithRF797680359.5Reginald Ephraim SagarUFP4836354640.5VICTORIAA 1,593 (69.4%)B 808 (30.1%)George Holland HartleyRF7222374555.3Andrea ZographosUFP38322060344.7WANKIEA 1,846 (68.5%)B 550 (20.4%)George Wilburn RudlandRF7541476855.8Basil Henry George SparrowUFP5119860944.2WATERFALLSA 1,946 (76.7%)B 59 (49.2%)Arthur Philip SmithRF1,04061,04668.7Eric Peter GardnerUFP4212044129.0Andrew John LawsonInd323352.3WILLOWVALEA 1,878 (56.1%)B 1,279 (11.0%)Gerald Joseph RaftopoulosUFP4778956647.4Victor Patrick OdendaalRF4511346438.9Gaston Thomas ThornicroftInd1253916413.7Second CountGerald Joseph RaftopoulosUFP4829157355.1Victor Patrick OdendaalRF4521446644.9

District results