View source for Elections in Namibia

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{{Politics of Namibia}}
'''Elections in Namibia''' determine who holds public political offices in the country. [[Namibia]] is a [[semi-presidential system|semi-presidential]] [[representative democracy|representative democratic]] republic. It runs [[direct elections]] every five years for the position of the [[President of Namibia|president]] and seats in the [[National Assembly (Namibia)|National Assembly]], and every six years for the [[Regions of Namibia|Regional Councils]] and the distribution of seats in local authorities. The [[National Council (Namibia)|National Council]] is [[indirect election|elected indirectly]] by the [[Constituencies of Namibia|constituency councillors]] of Namibia's 14 regions.

The {{As of|2020|alt=current}} direct elections determining political positions are the [[2019 Namibian general election]] for president and National Assembly, and the [[2020 Namibian local and regional elections]] for Regional Councils and local authorities.

==Latest election==
===President===
{{Election results
|cand1=Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah|party1=SWAPO|votes1=638560
|cand2=Panduleni Itula|party2=Independent Patriots for Change|votes2=284106
|cand3=McHenry Venaani|party3=Popular Democratic Movement|votes3=55412
|cand4=Bernadus Swartbooi|party4=Landless People's Movement (Namibia)|Landless People's Movement|votes4=51160
|cand5=Job Amupanda|party5=Affirmative Repositioning|votes5=19676
|cand6=Hendrik Gaobaeb|party6=United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front|votes6=12604
|cand7=Henk Mudge|party7=Republican Party (Namibia)|Republican Party|votes7=8988
|cand8=Evilastus Kaaronda|party8=SWANU|votes8=7991
|cand9=Ambrosius Kumbwa|party9=All People's Party (Namibia)|All People's Party|votes9=5197
|cand10=Epafras Mukwiilongo|party10=Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters|votes10=3978
|cand11=Festus Thomas|party11=Body of Christ Party|votes11=3641
|cand12=Mike Kavekotora|party12=Rally for Democracy and Progress (Namibia)|Rally for Democracy and Progress|votes12=2974
|cand13=Erastus Shuumbwa|party13=Action Democratic Movement Party (Namibia)|Action Democratic Movement Party|votes13=2069
|cand14=Sakaria Likuwa|party14=United Namibians Party|votes14=2013
|cand15=Vaino Amuthenu|party15=Congress of Democrats|votes15=1213
}}
=== National Assembly ===
{{Election results
|image=[[File:Namibia Parliament 2024 Election Results.svg]]
|party1=SWAPO|votes1=583300|seats1=51
|party2=Independent Patriots for Change|votes2=220809|seats2=20
|party3=Affirmative Repositioning|votes3=72227|seats3=7
|party4=Popular Democratic Movement|votes4=59839|seats4=5
|party5=Landless People's Movement (Namibia)|Landless People's Movement|votes5=56971|seats5=5
|party6=United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front|votes6=16828|seats6=1
|party7=Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters|votes7=11743|seats7=1
|party8=SWANU|votes8=11484|seats8=1
|party9=Republican Party (Namibia)|Republican Party|votes9=10942|seats9=1
|party10=National Unity Democratic Organisation|votes10=10687|seats10=1
|party11=All People's Party (Namibia)|All People's Party|votes11=7219|seats11=1
|party12=National Democratic Party (Namibia)|National Democratic Party|votes12=6647|seats12=1
|party13=Body of Christ Party|votes13=5763|seats13=1
|party14=Rally for Democracy and Progress (Namibia)|Rally for Democracy and Progress|votes14=3308|seats14=0
|party15=National Empowerment Fighting Corruption|votes15=3216|seats15=0|colour15=#04a1f7
|party16=United Namibians Party|votes16=2706|seats16=0
|party17=Action Democratic Movement Party (Namibia)|Action Democratic Movement Party|votes17=2286|seats17=0
|party18=United People's Movement (Namibia)|United People's Movement|votes18=2143|seats18=0
|party19=Congress of Democrats|votes19=1800|seats19=0
|party20=Christian Democratic Voice|votes20=1452|seats20=0
|party21=National Patriotic Front (Namibia)|National Patriotic Front|votes21=1315|seats21=0
|row22=Appointed members|votes22=0|seats22=8
}}

==Electoral system==
Namibia elects on national level a [[head of state]] - the [[President (government title)|president]] -  and a [[legislature]]. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The [[Parliament of Namibia|Parliament]] is [[bicameral]] in nature. Until 2014 the [[National Assembly of Namibia|National Assembly]] had 78 members of which 72 were elected by direct popular vote using the [[proportional representation]] and a maximum of 6 non-voting members are appointed by the president. The members are elected for a five-year term. Since then the number of elected seats to the National Assembly was increased to 96 to allow for wider representation of the population,<ref name=itself>{{Cite news | title=Where is the opposition ... when Swapo is fighting itself? | last=Iikela | first=Sakeus | newspaper=[[The Namibian]] | date=24 August 2017 | pages=6–7 | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/58330/read/Where-is-the-opposition--when-Swapo-is-fighting-itself}}</ref> although the real reason behind it was the newly introduced gender equality system of the ruling party [[SWAPO]]. This system would have pushed several male members out of parliament.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/08/namibia-gender-equality-zebra-politics Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd] The Guardian, 8 July 2014</ref> The [[National Council of Namibia]] has 42 members, indirectly elected for a five-year term in triple-seat [[constituency|constituencies]] (regions). Namibia is a democratic but [[one party dominant state]] with the [[South West Africa People's Organisation]] (SWAPO) in power.

[[Opposition (politics)|Opposition]] [[political parties|parties]] are allowed, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power. Upon [[independence of Namibia]] the territory inherited a populace divided along ethnic groups, and political parties representing these ethnicities. While this is also true for SWAPO which was founded to represent the [[Ovambo people]], the ruling party has garnered national support due to its role in the fight for independence. Opposition parties have had little success in national elections, and their representation in the lower house has been dwindling steadily.<ref name=itself/>

==Electronic voting==
The [[2014 Namibian general election]] was the first in Africa to use [[electronic voting]].<ref name=Wendell>Wendell Roelf, [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-namibia-election-idUSKCN0JC1CB20141128 "Namibia's ruling party seen winning Africa's first electronic vote"], Reuters, 28 November 2014.</ref> The electronic system was also used in the [[2015 Namibian local and regional elections]] and in the [[2014 Namibian general election|2019 general election]]. However, the [[electronic voting machine]]s (EVMs) that Namibia purchased do not implement the [[Voter-verified paper audit trail]] (VVPAT). The [[Supreme Court of Namibia]] ruled in 2020 that without a paper trail, usage of the EVMs in elections is unconstitutional. Starting with the [[2020 Namibian local and regional elections]] the voting process thus uses paper ballots again.<ref>{{Cite news | title=ECN undecided on discarded EVMs | last=Iikela | first=Sakeus | newspaper=[[The Namibian]] | date=23 September 2020 | page=1 | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/94958/read/ECN-undecided-on-discarded-EVMs | access-date=23 September 2020 | archive-date=27 June 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627163820/https://www.namibian.com.na/94958/read/ECN-undecided-on-discarded-EVMs | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Current Results==

===President===
{{see also|President of Namibia}}

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
!Candidate
!Party
!Votes
!%
|-
|align=left|[[Hage Geingob]]||align=left|[[SWAPO]]||464,703||56.3
|-
|align=left|[[Panduleni Itula]]||align=left|Independent||242,657||29.4
|-
|align=left|[[McHenry Venaani]]||align=left|[[Popular Democratic Movement]]||43,959||5.3
|-
|align=left|[[Bernadus Swartbooi]]||align=left|[[Landless People's Movement (Namibia)|Landless People's Movement]]||22,542||2.7
|-
|align=left|Apius Auchab||align=left|[[United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front]]||22,115||2.7
|-
|align=left|[[Esther Muinjangue]]||align=left|[[National Unity Democratic Organisation]]||12,039||1.5
|-
|align=left|[[Tangeni Iiyambo]]||align=left|[[SWANU]]||5,959||0.7
|-
|align=left|[[Henk Mudge]]||align=left|[[Republican Party (Namibia)|Republican Party]]||4,379||0.5
|-
|align=left|[[Mike Kavekotora]]||align=left|[[Rally for Democracy and Progress (Namibia)|Rally for Democracy and Progress]]||3,515||0.4
|-
|align=left|[[Ignatius Shixwameni]]||align=left|[[All People's Party (Namibia)|All People's Party]]||3,304||0.4
|-
|align=left|Jan Mukwilongo||align=left|[[Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters]]||1,026||0.1
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Invalid/blank votes||0||–
|-
|align=left colspan=2|'''Total'''||'''826,198'''||'''100'''
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout||1,358,468||60.8
|-
|align=left colspan=4|Source: [https://www.ecn.na/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Final-Election-Results-Announcement-Speech-ECN-Chair-30-Nov-2019.pdf ECN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213061408/https://www.ecn.na/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Final-Election-Results-Announcement-Speech-ECN-Chair-30-Nov-2019.pdf |date=2020-02-13 }}
|}

===National Assembly===
{{see also|National Assembly of Namibia}}

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
!colspan=2|Party
!Votes
!%
!Seats
!+/–
|-
|bgcolor=#F0001C| ||align=left|[[SWAPO]]||536,861||65.45||63||–14
|-
|bgcolor=#000080| ||align=left|[[Popular Democratic Movement]]||136,576||16.65||16||+11
|-
|bgcolor=#FC7B2C| ||align=left|[[Landless People's Movement (Namibia)|Landless People's Movement]]||38,956||4.75||4||New
|-
|bgcolor=#0B4000| ||align=left|[[National Unity Democratic Organisation]]|||16,066||1.96||2||0
|-
|bgcolor=#000000| ||align=left|[[All People's Party (Namibia)|All People's Party]]||14,664||1.79||2||0
|-
|bgcolor=#314BB2| ||align=left|[[United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front]]||14,644||1.79||2||0
|-
|bgcolor=#FFF100| ||align=left|[[Republican Party (Namibia)|Republican Party]]||14,546||1.77||2||+1
|-
|bgcolor=red| ||align=left|[[Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters]]||13,580||1.66||2||+2
|-
|bgcolor=#166B37| ||align=left|[[Rally for Democracy and Progress (Namibia)|Rally for Democracy and Progress]]||8,953||1.09||1||–2
|-
|bgcolor=#24B87A| ||align=left|[[Christian Democratic Voice]]||5,841||0.71||1||+1
|-
|bgcolor=#003580| ||align=left|[[SWANU]]||5,330||0.65||1||0
|-
|bgcolor=blue| ||align=left|[[Congress of Democrats]]||4,645||0.57||0||0
|-
|bgcolor=#EEEEEE| ||align=left|[[National Democratic Party (Namibia)|National Democratic Party]]||4,559||0.56||0||0
|-
|bgcolor=darkred| ||align=left|[[Workers Revolutionary Party (Namibia)|Workers Revolutionary Party]]||3,212||0.39||0||–2
|-
|bgcolor=#008000| ||align=left|[[National Patriotic Front (Namibia)|National Patriotic Front]]||1,785||0.22||0||New
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Invalid/blank votes||0||–||–||–
|-
|align=left colspan=2|'''Total'''||'''820,227'''||'''100'''||'''96''' ||'''–'''
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Registered voters/turnout||1,358,468||60.4||–||–
|-
|align=left colspan=6|Source: [https://www.ecn.na/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Final-Election-Results-Announcement-Speech-ECN-Chair-30-Nov-2019.pdf ECN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213061408/https://www.ecn.na/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Final-Election-Results-Announcement-Speech-ECN-Chair-30-Nov-2019.pdf |date=2020-02-13 }}
|}

===Regional elections===
There are 121 constituency councillors to be elected. In the [[2015 Namibian local and regional elections]] the party affiliations of the elected councillors were:

{| class="wikitable"
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Change
|-
|'''[[SWAPO|South West Africa People's Organization]]'''
|align="right" | 112
|
|-
|'''[[National Unity Democratic Organisation]]'''
|align="right" | 4
|
|-
|'''[[Popular Democratic Movement]]'''
|align="right" | 2
|
|-
|'''[[United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|'''[[United People's Movement (Namibia)|United People's Movement]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|[[Independent Politician|Independent politicians]]
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|'''Total''' 
|align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="2"|121
|-
|align=left colspan=3|Source:<ref>{{Cite web | title= Regional Council Election Results 2015 | publisher= [[Electoral Commission of Namibia]] | date= 3 December 2015 | url= http://www.ecn.na/documents/27857/223442/Regional+Counils+Election+Results_Duly+elected+candidates+2015.pdf/32493774-80b3-4be3-9ca1-1f6ce187673a?version=1.0 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151208163948/http://www.ecn.na/documents/27857/223442/Regional+Counils+Election+Results_Duly+elected+candidates+2015.pdf/32493774-80b3-4be3-9ca1-1f6ce187673a?version=1.0 | url-status= dead | archive-date= 8 December 2015 }}</ref>
|}

===Local election===
Local elections determine the population of the village, town, and city councils and have a direct influence on who will become mayor, as this position is elected among all councillors. Contrary to the regional elections, local elections in Namibia are determined by party, not by individual. There were 57 local authorities to be elected.

{| class="wikitable"
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Change
|-
|'''[[SWAPO|South West Africa People's Organization]]'''
|align="right" | 277
|
|-
|'''[[Popular Democratic Movement]]'''
|align="right" | 41
|
|-
|'''[[United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front]]'''
|align="right" | 21
|
|-
|'''[[Rally for Democracy and Progress (Namibia)|Rally for Democracy and Progress]]'''
|align="right" | 16
|
|-
|'''[[National Unity Democratic Organisation]]'''
|align="right" | 11
|
|-
|'''[[All People's Party (Namibia)|All People's Party]]'''
|align="right" | 4
|
|-
|'''[[United People's Movement (Namibia)|United People's Movement]]'''
|align="right" | 3
|
|-
|'''[[Civic Association of Henties Bay]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|'''[[KRA (Namibia)|KRA]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|'''[[Swakopmund Residents Association]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|'''[[Congress of Democrats]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|'''[[Rundu Concerned Citizens Association]]'''
|align="right" | 1
|
|-
|style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|'''Total''' 
|align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="2"|378
|-
|align=left colspan=3|Source:<ref>{{cite web  |title=Local elections results  |publisher=[[Electoral Commission of Namibia]]  |url=http://www.ecn.na/documents/27857/218731/LA+results+%28press+release%29+2015.pdf/870a030b-8547-487f-ad18-b22713b16d4c?version=1.0  |date=28 November 2015  |url-status=dead  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210194328/http://www.ecn.na/documents/27857/218731/LA+results+%28press+release%29+2015.pdf/870a030b-8547-487f-ad18-b22713b16d4c?version=1.0  |archive-date=10 December 2015  }}</ref>
|}

==History==
Before Namibian independence the territory was known as [[South West Africa]]. All elections until [[1978 South West African legislative election|1978]] were [[apartheid|only for Whites]],<ref>{{Cite book | title=The art of compromise: Constitution-making in Namibia | last=Mudge | first=Dirk | author-link=Dirk Mudge | page=126 | publisher=[[Konrad Adenauer Foundation]] | url=http://www.kas.de/upload/auslandshomepages/namibia/constitution_2010/mudge.pdf | access-date= 23 September 2014}}</ref> but even thereafter several parties representing the indigenous population, among them SWAPO, were excluded.<ref name=KD78>{{Cite web | title=Chronology of Namibian History, 1978 | last=Dierks | first=Klaus | author-link=Klaus Dierks | publisher=klausdierks.com | access-date=18 September 2014 | url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Chronology/120.htm}}</ref>

The first parliamentary elections were held in [[Namibia]] between [[1989 Namibian parliamentary election|7 and 11 November 1989]]. These elections were for the [[Constituent Assembly of Namibia]], which, upon independence in March 1990, became the [[National Assembly of Namibia]]. SWAPO won as expected, gaining 41 of the 72 seats, but not with the margin that was anticipated. Support for the opposition parties [[Democratic Turnhalle Alliance]] (DTA, 21 seats) and [[United Democratic Front (Namibia)|United Democratic Front]] (UDF, 4 seats) was strong in the former [[bantustans]] including [[Hereroland]] and [[Damaraland]].<ref name=falls>{{cite news | title=Namibia Rebel Group Wins Vote, But It Falls Short of Full Control | last=Wren | first=Christopher S | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=15 November 1989 | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE3DE1330F936A25752C1A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all}}</ref> Since then, election results of the opposition parties have been dwindling steadily. For instance the DTA gained 15 seats in [[1994 Namibian general election|1994]], 7 seats in [[1999 Namibian general election|1999]], and 4 seats in [[2004 Namibian general election|2004]]. {{As of|2017}} the state of the opposition has been described as "on the verge of collapsing".<ref name=itself/>

In 2019 Hage Geingob won the presidential election and received a second term as president. His percentage of votes gained, however, dropped significantly from 87% in 2014 to 56% in 2019. While rural areas predominantly supported Geingob, many urban centres voted for the independent candidate, Panduleni Itula, who received 29% of the overall votes. No other candidate achieved a two-digit result. SWAPO, yet again, won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, but closely missed the threshold for a two-thirds majority, which it held since 1994. Consequently, opposition parties also gained seats, most prominently the PDM, which obtained 16 seats in the National Assembly.<ref name=reduced>{{cite news | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/86045/read/Reduced-victory--Swapo-Geingob-drop-votes | newspaper=[[The Namibian]] | title = Reduced victory ... Swapo, Geingob drop votes | last=Iikela | first=Sakeus | date=2 December 2019 | page=1}}</ref> The PDM's 16.60% vote share is its best electoral performance since the [[1994 Namibian general election|1994 election]].

==See also==
* [[Electoral calendar]]
* [[Electoral system]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://africanelections.tripod.com/na.html Elections in Namibia], African Elections Database
*[http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/n/namibia/ Adam Carr's Election Archive]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091006135925/http://www.hellonam.com/elections-2009/ Namibia Elections 2009]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091202090336/http://www.hellonam.com/election-results/ Namibia Election Results 2009]
*[http://africanelections.tripod.com/na.html "Elections in Namibia," African Elections Database.]

{{Namibian elections}}
{{Africa in topic|Elections in}}
{{Namibia topics}}

[[Category:Elections in Namibia| ]]