The Tricameral Parliament, officially the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, was the legislature of South Africa between 1984 and 1994, established by the South African Constitution of 1983, which gave a limited political voice to the country's Coloured and Indian population groups. The majority Black population group was however still excluded, their interests notionally represented in the governments of the black homelands, or "bantustans", of which they were formally citizens. As these institutions were largely politically impotent, its principal effect was to further entrench the political power of the White section of the South African population (or, more specifically, that of the ruling National Party, which in turn mainly drew its support from the Afrikaner community). History The Tricameral Parliament can trace its origin back to 1981, when the Senate was replaced with the President's Council (), which was an advisory body consisting of sixty nominated members from the White, Coloured, Indian, and Chinese population groups. Following a request by Prime Minister P.W. Botha, the President's Council presented a set of proposals in 1982 for constitutional and political reform. This proposal called for the implementation of "power sharing" between the White, Coloured, and Indian communities. The right wing of the NP was very unhappy about this proposal, and a group of its MPs, led by Dr. Andries Treurnicht, a cabinet minister and the leader of the NP in the Transvaal province, broke away to form the Conservative Party (CP) to fight for a return to apartheid in its original form. However, Botha continued to be in favour of implementing the President's Council proposal, and, in 1983, the NP government introduced a new constitutional framework. Referendum To approve the proposed constitution, a referendum among White voters was held on 2 November 1983. Both the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), which objected to the exclusion of Blacks, as well as the CP, which objected to the participation of Coloureds and Indians, campaigned for a "No" vote. The conservative opposition to the reforms used banners with the text "Rhodesia voted yes – vote no!", reflecting on the transition to majority rule in Rhodesia. However, many PFP followers and parts of the anti-government English-language press supported the new constitution as "a step in the right direction". Consequently, the "Yes" vote won the referendum with 66.3% of the ballots cast. The proposed constitution was consequently enacted by parliament as the Republic of South Africa