Following Namibia’s most competitive election since independence on November 27, the ruling party in the country, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) failed to secure a two-thirds majority despite its overall win in the Namibia election. Contesting for a second term, President Hage Geingob was re-elected by 56.3% of the voters in the presidential election run and this result is slightly surprising as the country’s elections happened on the heels of a corruption scandal, high unemployment rates, particularly amongst the youth, widening inequalities and a struggling economy. The newly elected president, going for his second and last term will be faced with having to address all these issues.
Presidential and National Assembly Elections
Presidential candidates are elected directly and, in order to emerge victoriously, one has to receive over 50% of the votes as in the case above for President Geingob. For National Assembly elections, political parties are represented in the proportion of the number of votes received. For this year’s elections, 15 political parties contested, and out of this number, 4 were main opposition political parties, including 1 independent candidate.
President Geingob faced stiff competition from fellow SWAPO cadre, Dr Panduleni Itula, who ran as an independent candidate. A clause from SWAPO’s constitution made it possible for Itula to run as an independent candidate while remaining a member of the ruling party. As widely expected, the votes were split, leading to a significant decline in the number of votes received by Geingob.
In the 2014 Namibia election, Geingob won an impressive 86.7% of the votes, compared to 56.3% in 2019. This year, he earned more votes in the rural north, which happens to be SWAPO’s stronghold. Itula, on the one hand, was mostly preferred by the urban voters and young people, though he only managed to get about 30% of the votes.
The Popular Democratic Leader (PDM), McHenry Venaani, received only 5.3% of the total votes in this election. While the 4th and last presidential candidate is Bernadus Swartbooi from the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) who got only 2.7% of the votes.
For the National Assembly Elections, SWAPO received 65% of the votes, falling short of the two-thirds majority that would have enabled them to amend the constitution. Compared to 2014’s 80%, this year’s result is a sharp decline and a first since 1994 where SWAPO has received below 66% of the total votes in an election.
Increased Female Representation
Even though there is no constitutional or legislative quota, SWAPO has a voluntary 50% one man, one woman or ‘zebra’ quota in parliament. This has led to increased female representation in parliament over the years. On the basis of this, women representation in the new parliament is widely expected to increase. With a known and commendable gender representation record, representation was set to increase from 40% to 43% according to predictions made post-elections. This, without a doubt, makes Namibia the envy of many on the gender equality front.
Delayed Election Results in Namibia Election
After being the first African country to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in a general election back in 2014, Namibia used the EVMs for the second time in 2019. The expectation was that this would speed up the process overall, even though this was not the case. The results were subsequently delayed by 72hours, which created room for suspicion of manipulation and rigging. The PDM leader and other opposition parties have since expressed that they are considering legally challenging the results.
EVMs and Results Credibility
On the heels of the Namibia election, the electoral tribunal threw out opposition’s plea to have the EVMs replaced with ballot papers. The application was dismissed on the basis that it lacked urgency and also that the tribunal had no jurisdiction over matters concerning the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).
Additionally, the lack of a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) also led to the credibility of the election results being questionable according to some election observers.
Although the above may expose the flaws that exist within Nambia’s electoral system, it is highly unlikely that it will make any significant difference to the overall outcome. However, Geingob and SWAPO will most certainly have a challenging term having to address the country’s socio-economic problems and corruption plaque.
