Over one million registered Namibian voters will take to the polls on November 27. It will be the country’s 7th general election since gaining independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
The will elect a president and members of the general assembly. The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has expressed its readiness for the elections. The South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), the party that has been in government since independence,has for the first time put out a female candidate,in Netumbo Nandi- Ndaitwah. The face fierce competition from from opposition party’s such as the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), a party led by former member of SWAPO, Dr Panduleni Itula. He is a Lawyer and Dentist, who has had a decent campaign going into Wednesdays polls. Despite confidence from the former liberation movement,it faces it’s toughest challenge since independence. There’s a current trend sweeping through the SADC region,whereby former liberation movements are either barely holding on to power, or have recently lost power. Botswana, South Africa and recently Mozambique, is currently going through protests as a result of election outcomes. Recently, Botswana’s former ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party, lost power to the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). In October, the Mozambique Liberation Front and it’s presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo,held on to power. Not without objection from the opposition, who took to the streets in protest, claiming the outcome was rigged. Voter turnout, particularly from the youth,could swing this election for the opposition and reduce SWAPO to under 50 percent. Dentist and Lawyer, Dr Panduleni Itula, who was an independent candidate in 2019, garnered 29.37 percent back then. The numbers point to him as SWAPO’s biggest competitor in this election. The SADC observation mission has already arrived in Namibia,days ahead of the polls.