Parliamentary elections were held in South West Africa between 4 and 8 December 1978. These first elections conducted under universal adult suffrage—all previous elections had been Whites-only—were won by the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance, which claimed 41 of the 50 seats. The elections were conducted without United Nations (UN) supervision, and in defiance of the 1972 United Nations General Assembly's recognition of the militant South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) as the "sole representative of Namibia's people". The UN henceforth declared the elections null and void. The resulting government, dependent on South African approval for all its legislation, was in power until its dissolution in 1983. Background The elections were a direct outcome of the 1975–1977 Turnhalle Constitutional Conference, a controversial conference in Windhoek that developed a draft constitution for a semi-autonomous South West Africa. Representatives of 11 South West African ethnic groups were invited, selected by the South African government. Existing political parties were not considered. As a result of the conference, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) was founded, mainly from the attending ethnic groups and smaller, ethnically based parties. This was done to form a counterbalance to SWAPO. The Turnhalle Conference developed a draft constitution called the Turnhalle Plan for the territory. The constitution was approved in a Whites-only referendum in 1977 but never enacted, due to pressure by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). However, the planned elections under general adult suffrage were still held. Conduct The 1978 legislative elections were the first multi-racial elections in the territory of South West Africa, all previous elections were only for Whites. Even though the elections excluded the Namibia National Front, SWAPO Democrats and SWAPO, who in turn called for a boycott, voter turnout was surprisingly high at 80%. The presence of South African troops, particularly in the north of Namibia, might have been a reason for both high turnout and the DTA result, and there were several charges of coercion levelled at major South West African employers and the South African security forces. However, the level of support of SWAPO's political programme and war effort within the general population was unclear, which cast some doubt on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 1972 decision to accept SWAPO as the "sole representative of Namibia's people". There was a general perception that eligible voters who abstained from participating were SWAPO supporters. Encouraged by a voter turnout that high, the DTA subsequently claimed