1910 South African Senate election


The first election for the South African Senate took place as a result of the creation of the Union of South Africa through the South Africa Act 1909. The Act included special provisions for the selection of the first elected Senators. The Union Parliament was prohibited from changing the arrangements for the Senate during its first ten years.
The First Senate included eight Senators from each province. They were elected for a ten-year term by the members serving during the final session of the legislatures of each of the four colonies which joined the Union of South Africa. The election was by a form of the single transferable vote. The remaining eight seats were filled, by appointment by the Governor-General-in-Council. Section 24 of the South Africa Act 1909 provided that, of the nominated Senators,
Casual vacancies in the representation of the provinces, in the First Senate only, were filled by an electoral college composed of the members of the relevant Provincial Council. New Senators, elected in this way, held the seat for the residue of the ten-year term. Nominated Senators, appointed to fill vacancies, received a ten-year term and did not have to vacate their seats at the end of the term for the provincial representatives.
The composition, by party, of the provincial representatives in the First Senate included 18 representatives of the three colonial governing parties, eight Independent Senators from Natal, and six Senators from the opposition parties.