1981 election to the Natal Provincial Council, securing 14 of the 20 seats available. By contrast, the party won only 1 out of 55 seats on the Cape Provincial Council, and no seats at all on the Transvaal Provincial Council. In 1984, Raw was replaced as leader by Bill Sutton. However, the NP's shift towards reform in the early 1980s under the leadership of P. W. Botha would allow it to make inroads in the NRP's remaining voter base and the party retained only 1 seat, held by Sutton, in the 1987 South African general election, the last one it contested. Sutton retained his seat until the 1989 election. Platform and dissolution The anti-apartheid PFP considered the NRP "thoroughly racist", and the two parties "declared war" on each other. After the NRP stepped down from a by-election, which the NP subsequently won, the PFP accused the NRP of dealing with the NP in order to defeat their common enemy, the PFP. The primary policy of the NRP was to introduce a multi-chambered parliament, with a chamber each for whites, coloureds, Indians, and urban blacks. However, in 1982 the Nationalist government announced plans for a Tricameral Parliament, which was to represent coloureds, Indians, and whites. Blacks were not represented, even though the government no longer officially expected them to migrate to the bantustans. Nevertheless, the Tricameral Parliament's marked similarity to the NRP's policy meant that it was increasingly difficult to strike a moderate course between the NP and the liberal PFP. The Tricameral policy, and an announcement that it would talk to revolutionary groups, gained the NP liberal support. There was now little enough space for the PFP to occupy on the left of white public opinion, and no room whatsoever for the NRP to split the difference between the NP and the PFP. This was shown by the party's disastrous showing in the 1987 election. It disbanded in 1988. On dissolving the NRP, Sutton recommended that party members throw their support to the Independent Party of Denis Worrall. The IP and other NRP remnants would later merge with the PFP to form the Democratic Party, which later became the Democratic Alliance. References Political parties established in 1977 Defunct political parties in South Africa Political parties disestablished in 1988 Organisations associated with apartheid 1977 establishments in South Africa Republicanism in South Africa Conservative parties in South Africa Liberal parties in South