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Progressive Federal Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) was a South African political party formed in 1977. It advocated power-sharing in South Africa through a federal constitution, in place of apartheid. Its leader was Colin Eglin, who was later succeeded by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and then Zach De Beer, but its best known parliamentarian was Helen Suzman, who was for many years the only member of the whites-only parliament to speak out against the apartheid regime's abuses.
It was formed in 1977 when a group of United Party members left the Party to form the Committee for a United Opposition, which then joined the Progressive Reform Party to form the Progressive Federal Party.
It drew support mainly from liberal English-speaking whites, as owing to South Africa's apartheid laws, its membership was limited to the country's whites. The PFP was derided by right-wing whites, who claimed its initials stood for 'Packing for Perth', on account of the many white liberal supporters of the 'Progs', who were emigrating to Australia.
Another well known parliamentarian was Harry Schwarz who had previously led the Reform Party. He was the party's spokesman on defence and later finance spokesman.
It was ousted as the official opposition by the far-right Conservative Party in the whites-only parliamentary elections held on May 6, 1987.
This electoral blow led many of the PFP's leaders to question the value of participating in the whites-only parliament, and some of its MPs left to form the New Democratic Movement (NDM).
In 1989, the PFP and NDM merged with another small white reformist party, the Independent Party (IP), to form the Democratic Party (DP).
- Federalism
- Liberalism
- Contributions to liberal theory
- Liberalism worldwide
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracy
- Liberalism in South Africa
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| Apartheid-era political parties and groups | South African Liberal Party · Progressive Party (South Africa) · Democratic Party (South Africa) · Progressive Federal Party · Reform Party (South Africa) · Progressive Reform Party · Independent Party (South Africa) |
| Post-Apartheid political parties and groups | Democratic Alliance (South Africa) · South African Institute of Race Relations · Black Sash · Helen Suzman Foundation · Centre for Devlopment and Enterprise |
| People before and during the apartheid era | Jan Smuts · Alan Paton · Colin Eglin · Helen Suzman · Zach de Beer · Denis Worrall · Frederik van Zyl Slabbert · Harry Schwarz · Jan Steytler |
| Post-apartheid people | Tony Leon · Helen Zille |
| Related articles | Liberalism in South Africa |