UDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections

Date: 22 Aug 1984
Updated: 22 Aug 2019

On 22 August 1984 the United Democratic Front, an internal coalition of anti-apartheid groups, organised highly successful boycotts of the Coloured and Indian elections to parliament in 1984. The UDF was against the exclusion of African people from the Tricameral parliament and saw this as a serious form of repression by the government. In early 1984, the UDF claimed a membership of more than 600 organizations and 3 million individuals and in that years mass action had rendered SA ungovernable. This led to a state of emergency being declared by PW Botha in 1985. Source: http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/history/919551.htm http://disa.nu.ac.za/articledisplaypage.asp?articletitle=Tricameral+parliament&filename=ApSep88 http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/specialprojects/apartheid-and-resistance/1980s.htm

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). UDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012557

South African History Online (2011) 'UDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012557 (Accessed: 25 September 2026).

South African History Online, UDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012557, (accessed 25 September 2026).

"UDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012557. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "UDF organises boycott of Coloured and Indian parliamentry elections." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012557.