Elections in Namibia determine who holds public political offices in the country. Namibia is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic. It runs direct elections every five years for the position of the president and seats in the National Assembly, and every six years for the Regional Councils and the distribution of seats in local authorities. The National Council is elected indirectly by the constituency councillors of Namibia's 14 regions.
The direct elections determining political positions are the 2024 Namibian general election for president and National Assembly, and the 2025 Namibian local and regional elections for Regional Councils and local authorities.
Latest election President
National Assembly
Electoral system Namibia elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The Parliament is bicameral in nature. Until 2014 the 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, 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.Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd The Guardian, 8 July 2014 The National Council of Namibia has 42 members, indirectly elected for a five-year term in triple-seat constituencies (regions). Namibia is a democratic but one party dominant state with the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) in power.
Opposition 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.
Electronic voting The 2014 Namibian general election was the first in Africa to use electronic voting.Wendell Roelf, "Namibia's ruling party seen winning Africa's first electronic vote", Reuters, 28 November 2014. The electronic system was also used in the 2015 Namibian local and regional elections and in the 2019 general election. However, the electronic voting machines (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.
Current Results
President
CandidatePartyVotes%Hage GeingobSWAPO464,70356.3Panduleni ItulaIndependent242,65729.4McHenry VenaaniPopular Democratic Movement43,9595.3Bernadus SwartbooiLandless People's Movement22,5422.7Apius AuchabUnited Democratic Front22,1152.7Esther MuinjangueNational Unity Democratic Organisation12,0391.5Tangeni IiyamboSWANU5,9590.7Henk MudgeRepublican Party4,3790.5Mike KavekotoraRally for Democracy and Progress3,5150.4Ignatius ShixwameniAll People's Party3,3040.4Jan MukwilongoNamibian Economic Freedom Fighters1,0260.1Invalid/blank votes0–Total826,198100Registered voters/turnout1,358,46860.8Source: ECN
National Assembly
PartyVotes%Seats+/– SWAPO536,86165.4563–14 Popular Democratic Movement136,57616.6516+11 Landless People's Movement38,9564.754New National Unity Democratic Organisation16,0661.9620 All People's Party14,6641.7920 United Democratic Front14,6441.7920 Republican Party14,5461.772+1 Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters13,5801.662+2 Rally for Democracy and Progress8,9531.091–2 Christian Democratic Voice5,8410.711+1 SWANU5,3300.6510 Congress of Democrats4,6450.5700 National Democratic Party4,5590.5600 Workers Revolutionary Party3,2120.390–2 National Patriotic Front1,7850.220NewInvalid/blank votes0–––Total820,22710096 –Registered voters/turnout1,358,46860.4––Source: ECN
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:
PartySeatsChangeSouth West Africa People's Organization 112National Unity Democratic Organisation 4Popular Democratic Movement 2United Democratic Front 1United People's Movement 1Independent politicians 1Total 121Source:
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.
PartySeatsChangeSouth West Africa People's Organization 277Popular Democratic Movement 41United Democratic Front 21Rally for Democracy and Progress 16National Unity Democratic Organisation 11All People's Party 4United People's Movement 3Civic Association of Henties Bay 1KRA 1Swakopmund Residents Association 1Congress of Democrats 1Rundu Concerned Citizens Association 1Total 378Source:
History Before Namibian independence the territory was known as South West Africa. All elections until 1978 were only for Whites, but even thereafter several parties representing the indigenous population, among them SWAPO, were excluded.
The first parliamentary elections were held in Namibia between 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 (UDF, 4 seats) was strong in the former bantustans including Hereroland and Damaraland. Since then, election results of the opposition parties have been dwindling steadily. For instance the DTA gained 15 seats in 1994, 7 seats in 1999, and 4 seats in 2004. the state of the opposition has been described as "on the verge of collapsing".
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. The PDM's 16.60% vote share is its best electoral performance since the 1994 election.
See also Electoral calendar Electoral system
References
External links Elections in Namibia, African Elections Database Adam Carr's Election Archive Namibia Elections 2009 Namibia Election Results 2009 "Elections in Namibia," African Elections Database.