Prime Minister Ian Smith, who was conducting negotiations with moderate African nationalists, was forced into an early election by the defection of twelve MPs from his Rhodesian Front party, which denied him the two-thirds majority of the House of Assembly needed to change the constitution.

No change to boundaries or the qualification of voters was made compared to the 1974 election.

A by-election was held in the Highlands North constituency on 21 July 1978 to replace Fergus Blackie, who had been appointed as a Judge and resigned on 15 May 1978.

Roger Hawkins resigned from the Assembly due to ill health on 30 November 1978, leading to a by-election in Gwelo on 30 January 1979.

George Rollo Hayman resigned on 27 December 1978, claiming that the power-sharing government could easily fall under the control of a terrorist group.