Namibia elects Nandi-Ndaitwah as first woman president

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of the ruling SWAPO party won Namibia’s presidential elections outright in the first round with 57% of the vote, results published by the electoral commission on Tuesday showed. 

Clearing half the total votes cast meant no second-round runoff was necessary. 

“The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said after being declared president-elect. 

The commission put the second-placed finisher, Panduleni Itula from the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) party, on 26%. He and the IPC have said they will contest the “deeply flawed” results.

It put turnout among almost 1.5 million registered voters at 77%.

SWAPO in charge in Namibia since independence

The 72-year-old current vice president Nandi-Ndaitwah was considered the favourite before the vote, representing the party that has dominated Namibian politics since the former German colony’s independence from South Africa in 1990.

After years in various leadership roles, including that of foreign minister, she’s already well-known both at home and abroad.

However, SWAPO’s levels of support had fallen in recent years — particularly amid frustrations at high levels of unemployment and inequality, and at government corruption — leading to a more competitive campaign than usual.

The results published on Tuesday constituted the least strong showing from SWAPO since independence. 

Voting delays, opposition threatens to challenge results

Namibians also voted in a new parliament during the November 27 elections. 

SWAPO, the South West Africa People’s Organization, won 51 of the 96 elected seats and will return to government, while the IPC won 20 seats and will become the official opposition. 

The vote was marred by technical problems and ballot paper shortages, leading to delayed results as voting was extended in some places.

The IPC alleged this was a deliberate attempt to frustrate voters and had already said it would not accept the results, whatever they showed, with Itula saying last week there were a “multitude of irregularities.” 

The election was being closely watched in Berlin as Germany and Namibia work on the new Hyphen Project that foresees Germany importing large quantites of hydrogen from 2028, and on a contentious colonial-era reconciliation accord.