Elections in Namibia

Elections in Namibia gives information on election and election results in Namibia.

Namibia
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Namibia

Namibia elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The Parliament is bicameral in nature. Until 2014 the National Assembly had 78 members of which 72 were elected by direct popular vote using the proportional representation and a maximum of 6 non-voting members are appointed by the president. The members are elected for a five-year term. Since then the number of elected seats to the National Assembly was increased to 96 to allow for wider representation of the population,[1] although the real reason behind it was the newly introduced gender equality system of the ruling party SWAPO. This system would have pushed several male members out of parliament.[2]The National Council has 26 members, elected for a six-year term in double-seat constituencies (regions). Namibia is a democratic but one party dominant state with the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) in power.

Opposition parties are allowed, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. Upon independence of Namibia the territory inherited a populace divided along ethnic groups, and political parties representing these ethnicities. While this is also true for SWAPO which was founded to represent the Ovambo people, the ruling party has garnered national support due to its role in the fight for independence. Opposition parties have had little success in national elections, and their representation in the lower house has been dwindling steadily.[1]

Current Results

President
See also: President of Namibia
Candidate Party Votes %
Hage GeingobSWAPO464,70356.3
Panduleni ItulaIndependent242,65729.4
McHenry VenaaniPopular Democratic Movement43,9595.3
Bernadus SwartbooiLandless People's Movement22,5422.7
Apius AuchabUnited Democratic Front22,1152.7
Esther MuinjangueNational Unity Democratic Organisation12,0391.5
Tangeni IiyamboSWANU5,9590.7
Henk MudgeRepublican Party4,3790.5
Mike KavekotoraRally for Democracy and Progress3,5150.4
Ignatius ShixwameniAll People's Party3,3040.4
Jan MukwilongoNamibian Economic Freedom Fighters1,0260.1
Invalid/blank votes0–
Total826,198100
Registered voters/turnout1,358,46860.8
Source: ECN

National Assembly
Party Votes % Seats +/–
SWAPO536,86165.4563–14
Popular Democratic Movement136,57616.6516+11
Landless People's Movement38,9564.754New
National Unity Democratic Organisation16,0661.9620
All People's Party14,6641.7920
United Democratic Front14,6441.7920
Republican Party14,5461.772+1
Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters13,5801.662+2
Rally for Democracy and Progress8,9531.091–2
Christian Democratic Voice5,8410.711+1
SWANU5,3300.6510
Congress of Democrats4,6450.5700
National Democratic Party4,5590.5600
Workers Revolutionary Party3,2120.390–2
National Patriotic Front1,7850.220New
Invalid/blank votes0–––
Total820,22710096–
Registered voters/turnout1,358,46860.4––
Source: ECN

History

Before Namibian independence the territory was known as South West Africa. All elections until 1978 were only for Whites,[3] but even thereafter several parties representing the indigenous population, among them SWAPO, were excluded.[4]

The first parliamentary elections were held in Namibia between 7 and 11 November 1989. These elections were for the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which, upon independence in March 1990, became the National Assembly of Namibia. SWAPO won as expected, gaining 41 of the 72 seats, but not with the margin that was anticipated. Support for the opposition parties Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA, 21 seats) and United Democratic Front (UDF, 4 seats) was strong in the former bantustans including Hereroland and Damaraland.[5] Since then, election results of the opposition parties have been dwindling steadily. For instance the DTA gained 15 seats in 1994, 7 seats in 1999, and 4 seats in 2004. As of 2017 the state of the opposition has been described as "on the verge of collapsing".[1]

In 2019 Hage Geingob won the presidential election and received a second term as president. His percentage of votes gained, however, dropped significantly from 87% in 2014 to 56% in 2019. While rural areas predominantly supported Geingob, many urban centres voted for the independent candidate, Panduleni Itula, who received 29% of the overall votes. No other candidate achieved a two-digit result. SWAPO, yet again, won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, but closely missed the threshold for a two-thirds majority, which it held since 1994. Consequently, opposition parties also gained seats, most prominently the PDM, which obtained 16 seats in the National Assembly.[6] The PDM's 16.60% vote share is its best electoral performance since the 1994 election.

See also

References
  1. Iikela, Sakeus (24 August 2017). "Where is the opposition ... when Swapo is fighting itself?". The Namibian. pp. 6–7.
  2. Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd The Guardian, 8 July 2014
  3. Mudge, Dirk. The art of compromise: Constitution-making in Namibia (PDF). Konrad Adenauer Foundation. p. 126. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  4. Dierks, Klaus. "Chronology of Namibian History, 1978". klausdierks.com. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  5. Wren, Christopher S (15 November 1989). "Namibia Rebel Group Wins Vote, But It Falls Short of Full Control". The New York Times.
  6. Iikela, Sakeus (2 December 2019). "Reduced victory ... Swapo, Geingob drop votes". The Namibian. p. 1.
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