The governing SWAPO, and its presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, have won a disputed poll in Namibia. Nandi-Ndaitwah will become the country’s first female President.
According to the country’s election commission, with nearly all votes counted, Nandi-Ndaitwah won 57.7% of the vote in the presidential election, with the primary challenger being Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots of Change (IPC), with 26% of the vote. No other candidate won more than 10% of the vote.
In the parallel parliamentary election SWAPO won 53.4% of the vote, giving it 51 of the 96 elected seats. The IPC will be the second-biggest party with 20 seats, while the left-wing Affirmative Repositioning party managed seven seats. The Landless People’s Movement and Popular Democratic Movement each won five seats. Eight other parties won one seat each.
Despite SWAPO’s relatively comfortable majority, this is the party’s worst-ever showing in a parliamentary election.
However, opposition parties have cried foul, with the IPC saying it will challenge the results in court, and other opposition parties saying they will support it.
[Photo: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah – Screenshot/DW]