SANF 24 no 47 by SARDC Writers
Namibians cast their ballots to elect a new president and parliamentarians on 27-30 November in an election described by regional observers as peaceful, transparent and in compliance with regional and international standards.
According to the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), 21 parties and 15 presidential candidates took part in the elections in which nearly 1.5 million people were registered to cast their votes.
Long winding queues characterised voting on the first day, as more people turned out to vote, resulting in some polling stations being overwhelmed.
Namibia uses a constituency-based electoral system, but voters are allowed to cast their ballots at any polling station of their choosing as long as it is within the constituency in which they are registered.
Other Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states such as Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe use a polling station-based voting system, where voters are required to cast their ballots at specific voting stations at which they are registered. In this case, voters identify the specific polling stations at which they are registered, before the actual election day, a development that makes the planning easier for supplies and ballot papers.
For presidential and parliamentary elections in Namibia, however, “a voter may vote at any polling station in any constituency, irrespective of the constituency where a voter is registered.”
This system used in Namibia resulted in logistical challenges such as long queues and shortage of ballot papers at 36 polling stations that resulted in the extension of voting by two days to 30 November.
At least 4,677 polling stations – 1,621 of which were fixed and 3,056 were mobile – were set up to cater for the electorate across the country.
Namibia uses a hybrid system for the election of the president and parliamentarians. For presidential elections, a majority system is used, in which the candidate with more than 50 percent of the votes is declared the winner.
In the event of no candidate reaching the threshold, the top two candidates will compete in a run-off election.
For parliamentary polls, the proportional representation system is used. Under this system, each political party submits a list of candidates and the number of seats that each party receives is relative to its overall share of the national vote.
The National Assembly of Namibia is made up of 104 seats, and of these, 96 are elected by this method while eight are appointed by the President.
Regional and continental observers provided their preliminary statements on the pre-election day and election-day atmosphere, describing it as conducive for voters to freely cast their ballots.
“The environment at the polling stations was relatively calm and peaceful, and no significant incidents of violence or intimidation were observed,” said Anne Semamba Makinda, former speaker of parliament for the United Republic of Tanzania who led the 65-member SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM).
She noted that at least “ninety-four percent of polling stations observed were peaceful and conducive to voting.”
To address the challenge of shortages of ballot papers in future Namibian elections, the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries (ECF-SADC) recommended that there is “a need to devise a strategy to manage unpredictable voting numbers since the country is treated as one constituency during polling day.”
Observer missions praised the ECN for having successfully engaged in civic education programmes that allowed the youth, who made up the majority of voters, to participate in choosing their national leadership.
The involvement of women and youths as voters and election officers was also appreciated as it is in line with regional and continental efforts towards gender equity and empowerment.
“The ECN’s decision to recruit only unemployed youth as polling officials was noted as a positive step in involving and encouraging the youth to participate in the electoral process,” said the African Union Electoral Observation Mission (AUEOM), led by Dr Speciosa Kazibwe Wandira, former Vice President of the Republic of Uganda.
Women constituted 54 percent of the registered voters while 46 percent were men.
“However, challenges persist in achieving equal representation in political leadership especially in regional councils and local authorities. Of the 15 presidential candidates in the race, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the SWAPO candidate is the only female contender,” Dr Wandira said.
The SEOM, ECF-SADC and AUEOM are among 14 local and international observer missions accredited by the ECN to observe the elections.
In this poll, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), which has governed the country since independence in 1990, is aiming to continue in office, but 20 other parties are competing, including the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), which was formed after the last elections in 2019.
In the presidential election, Nandi-Ndaitwah of Swapo and Panduleni Itula of the IPC are the main contenders.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, the current Vice President of Namibia, is a veteran who joined politics in the 1960s and has held various positions in both the party and government.
She made history by becoming the first woman to represent the party and compete for the presidency.
Encouraged by his relatively strong performance as an independent presidential candidate in the previous elections held in 2019 when he secured 29 percent of the votes, Itula is hopeful that he will win the required 50 percent-plus-one vote to secure the presidency this time around.
In the last elections, he lost to Dr Hage Geingob, who died on 4 February 2024 before the end of his tenure and was replaced by his deputy, Dr Nangolo Mbumba.
Early results from the elections show that Swapo is leading in both the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Namibian law does not stipulate the timeframe within which the ECN must announce the final election results but has announced the results for 65 percent of the votes.
Electoral observer missions, in particular the SEOM and AUEOM, have urged the Namibian government to introduce legislation to provide a deadline for elections in future. However, Namibia is a vast country with a scattered population and many mobile polling stations, somewhat unpredictable in terms of the time it takes to count and receive the results.
The missions called on Namibians to remain patient until the final election results have been announced and to use available legal channels for recourse in the event of any grievances. sardc.net
