Referendum gives de Klerk a mandate to continue negotiations

On 17 March 1992, the National Party government asked white voters whether they supported continuing the reform process begun by F. W. de Klerk in February 1990, aimed at producing a new constitution through negotiation. The referendum followed Conservative Party gains in whites-only by-elections and its claim that de Klerk lacked a mandate to negotiate. About 86 per cent of registered voters participated; 68.7 per cent voted “Yes”, with a majority in fourteen of the fifteen referendum regions.

The National Party and Democratic Party campaigned for “Yes”, while the Conservative Party led the “No” campaign. Support for continued negotiations extended across Afrikaans- and English-speaking constituencies and both urban and rural districts. The ANC rejected the racially restricted referendum as a national decision-making mechanism while encouraging an outcome that would keep negotiations moving.

Eligibility was confined to voters on the white electoral roll. The referendum therefore supplied a mandate within de Klerk's existing constituency for continued constitutional negotiations. The subsequent multiparty settlement and interim Constitution established the common national franchise exercised in the election of 26–29 April 1994.

Significance

The “Yes” vote confirmed de Klerk's authority to negotiate, weakened organised electoral opposition to his reform programme and helped sustain the process that produced the interim Constitution and 1994 election.