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General elections were held in South Africa on 29 April 2003, two years after the previous general election in 2001. Snap elections had been triggered following a motion of no confidence against the governing National Conservative administration, two months after the Derby-Lewis scandal. An exposé by The Rand Daily Mail had revealed the role of incumbent Prime Minister Clive Derby-Lewis in the extrajudicial killings of prominent figures of the Congress of the People (COP) during his tenure as Security Minister in the 1980s, inciting mass uproar and a series of defections and resignations which resulted in a minority government.

The governing National Conservatives lost the 11-seat majority it had previously enjoyed, but no party achieved the 138 seats needed for a majority. The Union party, led by Helen Zille, won the most votes and seats, but still fell 22 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Assembly. Coalition talks began immediately between the Union party and the conservative anti-Segregationist New Democrats and lasted for six days. Despite vocal opposition from the Union left-wing and New Democratic right-wing, the agreement was approved overwhelmingly, sealing a coalition government of the Union party and New Democrats. Representatives from Labour, the ACDP and Liberals attended these negotiations, resulting in the formation of a confidence-and-supply agreement.

Central issues of the election included the civil rights campaign against the racial discrimination of Africans; the public health and economic impacts of the HIV/AIDs pandemic; widespread opposition to the Tanzania Intervention; the civil unrest and insurgency against the Government in part of the South African Emergency; immigration from former Eastern Bloc states; the future of the Federation of South Africa's foreign policy and the issue of provincial rights.

Opinion polls had consistently shown significant lead's for Zille's Union, who campaigned on a centrist platform, supporting the civil rights movement, a Pro-US foreign policy, and continuing the gradual set of anti-Segregationist reforms initiated by the late Harry Schwarz. Primarily supported by moderate and liberal English-speaking voters, support for the Union party amongst Afrikaners declined to it's lowest point in South African history. The scandalized NCP faced major setbacks as the New Democratic party and fringe Afrikaner Volksparty encroached on its demographic base of support. The New Democrats attracted the support of socially conservative English-speakers, alienated by the liberal agenda that was advocated by the UP, and the ultra-conservatism and eccentricity of the NCP. The AVP, led by Eugène Terre'Blanche, opposed any form of power-sharing with other races, advocating for the reinstitution of Apartheid segregation and the establishment of a Volkstaat. His oratorical skills and populist approach earned him much support among working class and rural Afrikaners. However, Terre'Blanche's campaign was mired in a series of allegations, including the use of violence, links to the AVW (a para-military organisation responsible for the District Six bombings and the cover-up of a bestiality scandal involving Terre'Blanche and a number of African bushpigs. He responded to such allegations claiming a Marxist Boerehaat agenda by the English-speaking media.

Despite only losing one seat, the Labour party saw a significant drop in support amongst working-class whites as Julia Gillard embraced policies deemed too left-leaning and failing to protect white urban workers from competition from black, non-white and eastern European migrants. The Liberals and ACDP, both lead by coloured leaders, had formed an electoral pact prior to the election and appealed primarily to newly-franchised Africans, Coloured and Indian voters. The Commonwealth party, led by Roy Bennet, failed to accomplish a breakthrough beyond conservative voters in Southern Rhodesia as some had expected.

The election saw a record number of non-white voters through the Qualified Franchise with Black/African voters comprising 10% of the electorate. It was the fourth election in which English-speaking Whites outnumbered Afrikaners.