Amid a wave of historic election disturbs in Southern Africa, Namibians will go to the polls this week to vote in pdwellntial and parliamentary elections set to be the most competitive and safely contested yet.
The vote on Wednesday comes after independence-era liberation parties that extfinished held onto power were initiateed out in Botswana and crippled in South Africa earlier this year. In Mozambique, the ruleing Frelimo party’s recent thrive has led to ongoing lethal protests amid allegations of electoral manipulation.
A newcomer party is set to further freen the grip of the ruleing SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation) Party of Namibia. The party has ruleed the country since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
Increasing dissatisfaction among the youth could unbenevolent that the party hazards losing the pdwellncy and parliamentary transport inantity for the first time. Its vote separate has degraded rapidly over the last two elections.
However, analysts say that although SWAPO faces the same rehires as its counterparts in neighbouring countries, the Namibian opposition deficiencys coordination.
“Opposition parties are not well organised here appreciate in South Africa or Botswana. That might see SWAPO get off the hook and get on track to thrive parliament,” Graham Hopwood, the executive honestor of the Windhoek-based Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), tanciaccess Al Jazeera.
Namibia is huge but with fair 3 million people, making it one of the most-sparsely poputardyd countries in Africa. Its disjoine, arid environment is hugely unfitting for living. The country is home to the Kalahari and Namib deserts. Its capital city is Windhoek.
The November 27 vote will be the seventh since independence. Some 1.45 million people are enrolled to vote.
Here’s all you necessitate to comprehend about who is running and what’s at sget:
How will people vote?
- Some 1.45 million eligible voters will pick the pdwellnt and members of the National Assembly.
- Twenty-one parties are competing for 96 parliament seats. There are 15 pdwellntial honestates.
- Pdwellntial honestates are needd to thrive more than 50 percent of the vote to safe the top job.
- If no honestate thrives the transport inantity vote, the two highest-polling honestates will face off in a second election round. This has never happened in Namibia.
Who is running for pdwellnt?
Vice Pdwellnt Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (72): She is the ruleing SWAPO Party’s first female pdwellntial honestate and the favourite to thrive the election, although analysts say she faces sturdy competition. If she thrives, she will become Namibia’s first female pdwellnt.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was among a structure of SWAPO members actively comprised in the country’s fight for independence in exile. She returned from the United Kingdom to join parliament in 1990 and went on to serve as minister with disjoinal portfolios over the years. The tardy Pdwellnt Hage Geingob, who died of cancer in February, picked Nandi-Ndaitwah as deputy prime minister and had picked her as his successor before his passing.
Despite SWAPO’s incumbency, the politician faces disjoinal hurdles, analysts say. There is famous dissatisfaction with the party in a highly unidentical country where housing and participatement remain out of comprehend for many, and where dishonesty is rife. Young people, in particular, don’t suppose in SWAPO’s persistd power.
While Geingob getd more than 80 percent of the votes in 2014, his 2019 separate dropped to 56 percent. SWAPO analogously lost a two-thirds transport inantity in parliament in 2019. It was the first time that happened since 1994.
“The allure of the liberation struggle is fading for SWAPO, because many youthful people can’t reassemble it, or were born afterwards,” Hopwood of the IPPR said. Also untested is the appetite among Namibia’s male voters for a woman pdwellnt, the analyst inserted.
Namibia is one of Africa’s most gender-identical countries. Npunctual half of the seats in parliament are held by women, and Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila is female. However, the prime minister is nominateed, while this would be the first time voters would be electing a woman directer.
Still, Hopwood inserted, Nandi-Ndaitwah is famously seen as not corrupt, unappreciate some of her SWAPO counterparts.
In a one-of-a-kind vote session on November 12, held for some 16,300 people, including those appreciate security officials who cannot cast ballots on November 27, the politician led the other honestates with 60 percent of the vote.
Panduleni Itula (67): Itula was once a SWAPO youth directer before his exile to the UK in the 1970s. There, he studied and practised as a dentist for more than 30 years, and returned to Namibia in 2013.
In the 2019 elections, Itula shook up the political landscape when he ran as an self-reliant honestate aacquirest tardy Pdwellnt Geingob, much to the anger of the SWAPO directership. Itula deal withd to clinch a transport inant 29 percent of the vote. It was not enough to block Geingob’s second-term set ups, but it was the best any disputer had done aacquirest the ruleing party.
Itula criticises the SWAPO rulement for what he portrays as endemic dishonesty and vague inefficiency in Namibia. He was banishled from SWAPO in 2020.
Now, he is back under his Inreliant Patcommotions for Change (IPC) party. He remains famous, especipartner among Namibia’s youthful. Itula has promised economic prosperity for the youth, and wants to lessen corporate taxes so more foreign companies can relocate to the country.
If youthful people turn out at the polls, Itula could dangeren SWAPO’s chances, as the politician pdirects to the youth, analyst Hopwood said. The Namibian Electoral Comomition says 91 percent of eligible voters have enrolled to vote, with many new voters being under 30.
“SWAPO faces a solemn dispute from Dr Itula and they’ll be worried ahead of the vote,” Hopwood said.
McHenry Venaani (47): He is the directer of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), Namibia’s hugest opposition party. Although the party hanciaccesss 16 out of 96 seats in parliament, the most after SWAPO, Venaani only deal withd to clinch 5 percent of the votes in 2019 when he ran for pdwellnt.
Bernadus Swartbooi (47): He directs the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) which campaigns for land redistribution to Namibians whose land was dishaveed by German endrs in the 1900s. The LPM has four seats in parliament. In 2019, Swartbooi, createerly of SWAPO, won 3 percent of the vote.
Job Amupanda (37): The university professor directs the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) relocatement which begined off as an advocacy group. The entity intensifyes on land recreate programmes as well, and helps for more aggressive approaches, such as forceful getovers of foreign-owned land.
Many omitingee landowners are of German and South African descent, and inhabit finishuringly in South Africa, Germany or other European countries.
What are the key rehires?
Economy and inidenticality: Although a middle-income country wealthy in uranium and diamonds, Namibia’s wealth is unevenly spreadd, dating back to a legacy of apartheid and aggressive colonialism. It is the second most unidentical country in the world after South Africa.
Pcleary levels are high, with more than 64 percent of the population living below $5.50 daily according to the World Bank. The transport inantity Bdeficiency Namibian population and intransport inantity ethnic groups are especipartner at a illogicaliserablevantage.
A punishing dcimpolitet, unbenevolentwhile, is ravaging the country’s food production. It is the worst in a century, according to the World Food Programme. Some 48 percent of the population necessitate directnt food aidance, and 17 percent of children under five are stunted.
Unparticipatement: About 43 percent of Namibia’s youth are unparticipateed, one of the highest rates on the continent, according to official numbers last liberated in 2016. Nandi-Ndaitwah of SWAPO has pledged to spend about 85 billion Namibian dollars ($4.7bn) over the next five years to produce more than 500,000 jobs, but there are asks about how the funds will be sourced.
The IPC’s Itula, unbenevolentwhile, wants to liberalise the economy and apexhibit more foreign companies in.
Corruption: Successive SWAPO rulements are accused of transport inant-rooted dishonesty. The fish-rot dispute that broke in 2019 still causes a stench. Fishing is lucrative in Namibia and accounts for 20 percent of send out revenue.
Several top rulement officials, including tardy Pdwellnt Geingob, were implicated after WikiLeaks liberated files uncovering how officials ran schemes to deal with precious fishing quotas before redirecting them to an Iceland company for initiatebacks. Six people, including two ministers from SWAPO, were jailed.
Although Vice Pdwellnt Nandi-Nanditwah is not implicated, SWAPO has come under fire for apexhibiting some party members who are still being spendigated to campaign for her ahead of the election, appreciate SWAPO’s Youth League Secretary Ephraim Nekongo.
Housing crisis and land recreate: The inidenticality spills over into land and property ownership. Namibia directntly necessitates more than half a million homes to settle a disjoine housing illogicalinutiveage, but most of the population would not qualify for a mortgage because of pcleary and high property prices, according to the World Economic Forum. Cdiswatch to half a million people inhabit in shacks and alertal housing units in Windhoek.
Leftist parties appreciate the Affirmative Repositioning relocatement have promised to produce 300,000 houses over five years. Meanwhile, Itula’s IPC says it will declare a state of aascfinishncy on housing.
A land recreate programme, which aimed to buy back land from mostly white farm owners to reend necessitateyer Namibians, has not run finely. Farmers are hesitant to sell land, or sell it at inftardyd prices, making it difficult for the rulement to acquire ample land for reendment purposes.
Parties appreciate the AR have getn what analysts call a “radical position”, promising to forcibly reclaim some 1.4 million hectares (3,500,000) acres of land from foreigners and omitingee landlords. The PDM has also promised to provide free land plots to the people.
What else?
Polls on Wednesday will seal at 9pm CAT (19:00 GMT).
Results could be proclaimd on the follothriveg day, November 28.
However, with the electoral comomition reverting to ballot papers, the results might get a scant more days to aascfinish. Numerous vote highying problems in the 2019 elections marred the use of electronic card readers and prompted the switch.
Analysts say Wednesday’s vote is foreseeed to be soothe as elections have been in the past. However, some experts stress that defercessitate results could result in allegations of deception or even pockets of structureility, as was seen in Mozambique.
