1933 Southern Rhodesian general election

General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 6 September 1933, the third elections since the colony of Southern Rhodesia was granted self-government. It is notable as one of only two general elections in Southern Rhodesia which led to a defeat for the sitting government, as the Reform Party won a narrow majority of two seats in the Legislative Assembly. Their victory was to be short-lived.

Electoral system

No changes were made in the franchise or the procedure of elections since the 1928 [Southern Rhodesia general election|previous election], the Electoral Act, 1928 being unamended.

Electoral districts

Shortly before the election, a last-minute decision was made to revise the boundaries of electoral districts which were exceptionally large or exceptionally small. The Shamva district, to the north-east of Salisbury, was found to be too small and was abolished and merged with most of the Mazoe district; the remaining parts of both were added to Lomagundi district. In Salisbury itself, the two-member Salisbury South district was reduced to one member, and a new two-member Salisbury Central created, with knock-on effects to Salisbury North.
Outside of these changes the boundaries were the same as used in 1928.

Political parties

The Progressive Party, which had won four seats to become the official opposition in 1928, merged with the County Party and reorganised itself as the Reform Party in October 1929.

Results

By constituency

Ind – Independent
Lab – Rhodesia Labour Party
Ref – Reform Party
RP – Rhodesia Party

Constituency Electorate and turnout	Candidate	Party	Votes
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,114	Donald MacIntyre	Lab	681
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,114	†James Cowden	RP	616
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,114	†Harry Bertin	RP	597
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,114	Edward Jonathan Davies	Lab	467
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,114	William Ewart Kay	Ref	271
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,114	Henry Darling	Ref	249
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 2,092	John Banks Brady	RP	681
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 2,092	†Allan Ross Welsh	RP	761
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 2,092	Patrick Bissett Fletcher	Ref	551
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 2,092	William McDonald	Lab	322
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 2,092	Francis Leslie Hadfield	Ref	303
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 2,092	George Arthur Pingstone	Ind	148
BULAWAYO SOUTH 1,279	†Harry Herbert Davies	Lab	587
BULAWAYO SOUTH 1,279	Henry Arthur Cloete	RP	278
CHARTER 685	†Ernest Lucas Guest	RP	426
CHARTER 685	Servaas Daniel Le Roux	Ref	108
EASTERN 951	†John Louis Martin	RP	347
EASTERN 951	Ernest Plewman De Kock	Ref	147
EASTERN 951	William Hendrik Boshoff	Ind	125
EASTERN 951	Johannes Arnoldus Christiaan Kruger	Ind	77
GATOOMA 878	William Sydney Senior	Ref	318
GATOOMA 878	Thomas Alfred Kimble	Lab	261
GATOOMA 878	†George Munro	RP	132
GWANDA 708	Sir Hugh Grenville Williams	Ref	292
GWANDA 708	† George Mitchell	RP	240
GWELO 1,070	Frank Delano Thompson	Ref	345
GWELO 1,070	† Howard Unwin Moffat	RP	279
GWELO 1,070	William Harrison	Lab	186
HARTLEY 634	†Roger Edward Downes	Ref	281
HARTLEY 634	Robert Atherton Comyn	RP	121
HARTLEY 634	William Ernest Heydeman	Ind	106
INSIZA 729	†Stephen Martin Lanigan O'Keeffe	Ref	307
INSIZA 729	John Parke Richardson	RP	170
INSIZA 729	Leo George Robinson	Ind	33
INYATI 782	†Charles Spearman Jobling	Ref	329
INYATI 782	Benjamin Walter Durham	RP	235
LOMAGUNDI 854	Lewis Aloys MacDonald Hastings	RP	365
LOMAGUNDI 854	Thomas William Williamson	Ref	246
MARANDELLAS 834	Reginald Herbert Bruce Dickson	Ref	329
MARANDELLAS 834	†Luke Lot Green	RP	260
MATOPO 998	†Robert Alexander Fletcher	Ref	299
MATOPO 998	Ernest Arthur Maxwell	Lab	296
MATOPO 998	Roland Mortimer Daniel	RP	208
MAZOE 893	†Edward Walter Lionel Noaks	RP	346
MAZOE 893	†Mark Douglas Claxton	Ind	319
QUE QUE 819	Charles Walter Leppington	Ref	308
QUE QUE 819	†James Murdoch Eaton	RP	189
QUE QUE 819	Stanley James Edwards	Ind	113
RAYLTON 1,271	†Lawrence John Walter Keller	Lab	519
RAYLTON 1,271	Henry Robert Barbour	RP	370
RAYLTON 1,271	Carl Hoghoj Olsen	Ref	80
RAYLTON 1,271	William Davies	Ind	18
SALISBURY CENTRAL Two members 2,294	†Jacob Hendrik Smit	Ref	1,125
SALISBURY CENTRAL Two members 2,294	Neil Housman Wilson	Ref	835
SALISBURY CENTRAL Two members 2,294	Charles Olley	Ind	485
SALISBURY CENTRAL Two members 2,294	Milton Evan Cleveland	RP	343
SALISBURY CENTRAL Two members 2,294	Mrs. Gladys Maasdorp	RP	316
SALISBURY DISTRICT 1,028	Thomas Nangle	Ref	391
SALISBURY DISTRICT 1,028	†William Muter Leggate	RP	371
SALISBURY NORTH Two members 1,978	†Godfrey Martin Huggins	Ref	993
SALISBURY NORTH Two members 1,978	†Percival Donald Leslie Fynn	RP	747
SALISBURY NORTH Two members 1,978	Edgar Pope Vernall	Ref	642
SALISBURY NORTH Two members 1,978	William Smith	RP	508
SALISBURY SOUTH 1,267	George Henry Walker	Lab	458
SALISBURY SOUTH 1,267	William Harold Kimpton	Ref	314
SALISBURY SOUTH 1,267	Hyam Schwartz	RP	237
SELUKWE 851	†Robert Dunipace Gilchrist	Ref	507
SELUKWE 851	Mrs. Ethel Tawse Jollie	RP	160
UMTALI NORTH 911	Donald Murray Somerville	Ref	371
UMTALI NORTH 911	†Charles Eickhoff	RP	263
UMTALI NORTH 911	William Anderson Logan	Lab	68
UMTALI SOUTH 843	†Jonathan Hunter Malcolm	Lab	370
UMTALI SOUTH 843	Norman Innes	RP	264
VICTORIA 1,032	William Alexander Eustace Winterton	Ref	475
VICTORIA 1,032	Ernest George Birch	RP	272
WANKIE 720	†Alexander Robert Thomson	RP	246
WANKIE 720	Frederic Philip Mennell	Ref	133
WANKIE 720	William Doull	Lab	90

Changes during the assembly

There were no byelections during this Assembly. In August 1934, most of the Reform Party merged with the Rhodesia Party to form the United Party.