In Namibia, uncertain elections for the historic ruling party

From 7 in the morning, Namibia is called to the polls on Wednesday, November 27, in a double vote, presidential and legislative, in which there is a lot at stake. These are the most uncertain elections experienced by the historic ruling party, the South West African People’s Organization (Swapo, socialist), while, although favorite, its candidate, the current vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, could be forced to a second round unprecedented.

The 72-year-old candidate, who could become the country’s first female president, faces at the polls the former dentist and lawyer Panduleni Itula, who founded her own party in 2020, the Independent Patriots Party (IPC). The ballot boxes, blue for the presidential elections and yellow for the legislative elections, must be filled until 9 p.m., according to the votes of the million and a half registered voters. The recount is expected on Saturday, according to the Electoral Commission.

Nicknamed “NNN”, the Swapo candidate, a figure of the liberation struggle, voted from the opening, at the Emma Hoogenhout school polling station in Windhoek, the capital. “By voting, you ensure that your voice is heard and has an impact on your life for the next five years”the vice president launched, before adding: “So come and vote in numbers. » Swapo dissident Panduleni Itula, 67, won 29.4% of the vote in the previous presidential election without a party to rely on. The president, Hage Geingob, who died in February 2024, was re-elected with 56% of the votes.

Second most unequal country in the world

Mass unemployment, persistent inequalities and generational change have eroded support for Swapo in this desert territory in southern Africa, one of the world’s main suppliers of uranium. After three decades of the reign of the Marxist-inspired movement, Namibia remains, after South Africa, the second most unequal country on the planet, according to the World Bank.

“The abundant mining activity does not really translate” by “job opportunities”observes independent analyst Marisa Lourenço. That “It fuels much of the frustration of young people” Namibians, of which 46% of people aged 18 to 34 were unemployed in 2018, according to the latest figures.

Furthermore, for several months the winds of change have been blowing in the south of the African continent. After the electoral setback of the ANC in South Africa, stripped of its absolute majority, the BDP, in power since 1966 in Botswana, was swept away. Swapo, which fought for the country’s independence under the yoke of apartheid in South Africa until 1990, fears the same fate as its sister parties in the region.

These parties no longer have the same appeal among born freethese young people born after the liberation of their country. Like the rest of the continent, Namibia has a young population: 63% of its 3 million inhabitants are under 30 years old. “It is not just that they are young and have not experienced liberation, it is that they are bearing the brunt of the effects of the economic crisis”observes Nic Cheeseman, a specialist in African politics at the University of Birmingham.

“Elections now revolve around basic subsistence issues”analysis by Agence France-Presse Tendai Mbanje, researcher at the African Center for Governance. That is why “NNN” promises in its program the creation of more than 250,000 jobs in five years. but m^me Nandi-Ndaitwah warned during their last meeting on Sunday that “The business world can only prosper if politics is stable”.

While legislative elections are held proportionally, a second round during presidential elections is, for the first time, a “quite realistic option”according to Henning Melber, a researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden. This must be held, at the latest, within sixty days following the publication of the final results, in accordance with the electoral law.

“I want the country to improve and for people to have jobs”Hendry Amupanda, 32 years old and first in line of a hundred voters waiting in front of the yellow doors of the same polling station in Windhoek, told Agence France-Presse. With his sneakers on, this self-employed digital entrepreneur arrived at 9:00 p.m. the day before, equipped with a chair, a blanket and something to eat. Further down the line, bathed in the first rays of sunlight in the Windhoek basin, Frieda Fillipus hopes to see a “woman president”. “The feminine represents the future”according to this 31-year-old mining industry worker.