Since the granting of self-government in 1923, Southern Rhodesia used the Westminster parliamentary system as its basis of government.
The person in charge of this bloc (the head of government) was the Premier, later renamed Prime Minister, who then chose his cabinet from his elected colleagues.
The nominated members were appointed by the British South Africa Company, and consisted of the executive which ruled the colony; the number of elected members increased throughout the period as the number of white people in the colony increased.
Following the grant of responsible government in 1924, Southern Rhodesia's Parliament was unicameral, consisting of the Legislative Assembly on its own.
The base requirement was that an elector be a British subject, male, aged 21 or over, and able to write their own name and address and sign their name on the registration form.
Ministers of religion as well as Kraal chiefs with a following of at least 20 heads of families automatically gained access to the B roll.
Instead, the electorate were segregated by race with European, Asian and mixed citizens meeting certain income and property qualifications – an annual income of 1,800 dollars or more for the past two years or immovable property worth 3,600 dollars or more, with either demand lowered by a third if the person had completed four years of secondary education – voting in 50 constituencies, with Africans meeting lower qualifications – an annual income of 600 dollars or more for the two past years or immovable property worth 1,200 dollars or more, with either demand lowered by a third if the voter had completed two years of secondary education – voting in eight.
Prime Minister Ian Smith justified this setup on the grounds that the vast majority of black Rhodesians had no experience with the democratic system.
White Rhodesians feared that rapid transition to majority rule might yield similar hardships to those experienced by the other newly independent African states such as Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria.
Critics counter that this was simply a strategy to perpetuate European settler rule for as long as possible, and whether this transition would have happened over the next few decades is unclear.
These wins were clearly the will of the white voters who felt that the Rhodesian Front was the best choice to lead Rhodesia through the difficult years of sanctions and guerilla war.