Namibia may elect its first female president if SWAPO candidate wins

Ranga Mataire

Zimpapers Politics Hub

South West People’s Organisation (SWAPO)’s presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah could become the country’s first female president if she wins the elections starting tomorrow.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), says 1.4 million people, almost half of the population, have registered to vote in the elections, with 15 political parties vying for the president and National Assembly seats.

So far, results from special early polls held for Namibia’s security services and foreign missions that were announced by the ECN earlier this month, have given SWAPO and its presidential candidate an early lead.

SWAPO is a former liberation movement party that has been in power in Namibia since the country attained independence from South Africa’s apartheid minority regime in 1990.

In the last elections of 2019, SWAPO lost its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly for the first time since 1994. Its lacklustre performance has been attributed to a myriad of factors, chief among them being the younger population bulge.

The population bulge of the youth forms a significant part of the voting population and is viewed as lacking emotional attachment with the liberation struggle spearheaded by SWAPO and culminated in the attainment of independence in 1990.

However, despite this demographic reality of youths, SWAPO is still a very popular mass party and is seen by many voters as a genuine home-grown political organisation capable of meeting people’s aspirations.

A senior journalist in Namibia, Timo Shihepo, anticipates no surprises in the elections because of the presence of many opposition political parties which are not a coalition for 1,4 million eligible voters.

“I don’t think SWAPO will have an outright majority. Netumbo is still expected to win the presidency but SWAPO is likely to suffer a dent in its parliamentary seats. The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) led by Mr Panduleni Itula is expected to be the new official opposition taking over from the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) led by McHenry Venaan, which has been the official opposition since the last election of 2019,” Shihepo said.

SWAPO’s Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, has led her campaign on the promise to create more jobs and tackle the 20 percent unemployment rate for young people and graduates. She has pledged to spend about 85 billion Namibian dollars (US$4.7 billion) over the next five years to create more than half a million jobs.

Madam Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is the current Vice President, has been an advocate for women empowerment after having been appointed as the director-general of Women’s Affairs in the Office of the President in 1996 where she served until 2000. She was later promoted to the Minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare in 2000. Voters see her as the most ideal candidate to tackle issues affecting women like reproductive rights, equal pay and health care.

If she becomes president, Madam Nandi-Ndaitwah would follow in the steps of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who made history by becoming Africa’s first elected female president in 2005.

Political parties rounded up their campaigns with final rallies this past weekend. Southern Africa has had the busiest election calendar this year with elections having taken place in South Africa, Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar and Botswana.