Elections in Namibia
Elections in Namibia determine who holds public political offices in the country.
The current[update] direct elections determining political positions are the 2019 Namibian general election for president and National Assembly, and the 2020 Namibian local and regional elections for Regional Councils and local authorities.
Electoral system
Namibia elects on national level a
Electronic voting
The 2014 Namibian general election was the first in Africa to use electronic voting.[3] The electronic system was also used in the 2015 Namibian local and regional elections and in the 2019 general election. However, the electronic voting machines (EVMs) that Namibia purchased do not implement the Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). The Supreme Court of Namibia ruled in 2020 that without a paper trail, usage of the EVMs in elections is unconstitutional. Starting with the 2020 Namibian local and regional elections the voting process thus uses paper ballots again.[4]
Current Results
President
Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|
Hage Geingob | SWAPO | 464,703 | 56.3 |
Panduleni Itula | Independent | 242,657 | 29.4 |
McHenry Venaani | Popular Democratic Movement | 43,959 | 5.3 |
Bernadus Swartbooi | Landless People's Movement | 22,542 | 2.7 |
Apius Auchab | United Democratic Front | 22,115 | 2.7 |
Esther Muinjangue | National Unity Democratic Organisation | 12,039 | 1.5 |
Tangeni Iiyambo | SWANU | 5,959 | 0.7 |
Henk Mudge | Republican Party | 4,379 | 0.5 |
Mike Kavekotora | Rally for Democracy and Progress | 3,515 | 0.4 |
Ignatius Shixwameni | All People's Party | 3,304 | 0.4 |
Jan Mukwilongo | Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters | 1,026 | 0.1 |
Invalid/blank votes | 0 | – | |
Total | 826,198 | 100 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,358,468 | 60.8 | |
Source: ECN Archived 2020-02-13 at the Wayback Machine |
National Assembly
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWAPO | 536,861 | 65.45 | 63 | –14 | |
Popular Democratic Movement | 136,576 | 16.65 | 16 | +11 | |
Landless People's Movement | 38,956 | 4.75 | 4 | New | |
National Unity Democratic Organisation | 16,066 | 1.96 | 2 | 0 | |
All People's Party | 14,664 | 1.79 | 2 | 0 | |
United Democratic Front | 14,644 | 1.79 | 2 | 0 | |
Republican Party | 14,546 | 1.77 | 2 | +1 | |
Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters | 13,580 | 1.66 | 2 | +2 | |
Rally for Democracy and Progress | 8,953 | 1.09 | 1 | –2 | |
Christian Democratic Voice | 5,841 | 0.71 | 1 | +1 | |
SWANU | 5,330 | 0.65 | 1 | 0 | |
Congress of Democrats | 4,645 | 0.57 | 0 | 0 | |
National Democratic Party | 4,559 | 0.56 | 0 | 0 | |
Workers Revolutionary Party | 3,212 | 0.39 | 0 | –2 | |
National Patriotic Front | 1,785 | 0.22 | 0 | New | |
Invalid/blank votes | 0 | – | – | – | |
Total | 820,227 | 100 | 96 | – | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,358,468 | 60.4 | – | – | |
Source: ECN Archived 2020-02-13 at the Wayback Machine |
Regional elections
There are 121 constituency councillors to be elected. In the 2015 Namibian local and regional elections the party affiliations of the elected councillors were:
Party | Seats | Change |
---|---|---|
South West Africa People's Organization | 112 | |
National Unity Democratic Organisation | 4 | |
Popular Democratic Movement | 2 | |
United Democratic Front | 1 | |
United People's Movement | 1 | |
Independent politicians
|
1 | |
Total | 121 | |
Source:[5] |
Local election
Local elections determine the population of the village, town, and city councils and have a direct influence on who will become mayor, as this position is elected among all councillors. Contrary to the regional elections, local elections in Namibia are determined by party, not by individual. There were 57 local authorities to be elected.
History
Before Namibian independence the territory was known as
The first parliamentary elections were held in
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.[10] The PDM's 16.60% vote share is its best electoral performance since the 1994 election.
See also
- Electoral calendar
- Electoral system
References
- ^ a b c Iikela, Sakeus (24 August 2017). "Where is the opposition ... when Swapo is fighting itself?". The Namibian. pp. 6–7.
- ^ Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd The Guardian, 8 July 2014
- ^ Wendell Roelf, "Namibia's ruling party seen winning Africa's first electronic vote", Reuters, 28 November 2014.
- ^ Iikela, Sakeus (23 September 2020). "ECN undecided on discarded EVMs". The Namibian. p. 1. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
- ^ "Regional Council Election Results 2015". Electoral Commission of Namibia. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
- ^ "Local elections results". Electoral Commission of Namibia. 28 November 2015. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015.
- ^ Mudge, Dirk. The art of compromise: Constitution-making in Namibia (PDF). Konrad Adenauer Foundation. p. 126. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ Dierks, Klaus. "Chronology of Namibian History, 1978". klausdierks.com. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
- ^ Wren, Christopher S (15 November 1989). "Namibia Rebel Group Wins Vote, But It Falls Short of Full Control". The New York Times.
- ^ Iikela, Sakeus (2 December 2019). "Reduced victory ... Swapo, Geingob drop votes". The Namibian. p. 1.