2019 Namibian general election

The President of Namibia is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives more than 50% in the first round of voting, a run-off will be held. No previous presidential votes in Namibia have gone to a second round.{{Cite news | title=Namibia's Ruling Party Faces Unexpectedly Challenging Vote|newspaper=The New York Times | date=24 November 2019 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/11/24/world/africa/ap-af-namibia-election-preview.html}}

The 104 members of the National Assembly consist of 96 elected members and eight (non-voting) members appointed by the President.[https://www.lac.org.na/projects/grap/Pdf/Gov2_Three_Branches_of_Government.pdf The Three Branches of Government] Hanns Seidel Foundation The 96 elected members are elected by closed list proportional representation from 14 multi-member constituencies based on the regions. Seats are allocated using the largest remainder method.[http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2225_B.htm Electoral system] IPU

SWAPO was viewed as the clear favorite going into the 2019 election, although the rise of new parties, such as the Landless People's Movement, was predicted to cause a split in the vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.lelamobile.com/content/78576/Expect-more-promises-in-2019-Kamwanyah/|title=Expect more promises in 2019: Kamwanyah|website=Lela|date=23 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327090443/https://www.lelamobile.com/content/78576/Expect-more-promises-in-2019-Kamwanyah/ |archive-date=27 March 2019 }} In 2014, the ruling SWAPO Party announced a gender equality system where half of SWAPO's seats in parliament would be held by women. The party also embraced what it called a "zebra system", whereby if a minister was a woman, the deputy minister would be a man, and vice versa. Due to there being more male SWAPO MPs than female MPs, SWAPO put forward plans to expand parliament to remove the risk of male MPs losing their seats as a result of this gender equality policy.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/08/namibia-gender-equality-zebra-politics|title=Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd|website=The Guardian|date=8 July 2014}} This change, raising the number of seats from 78 to 104, was enacted in 2014, although it was officially framed as allowing for wider representation of the population.{{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}}

Opposition parties had the objective of removing SWAPO's two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. The Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) and the Republican Party (RP), both without a realistic chance in the previous elections, withdrew their presidential candidates in early November and instead endorsed the independent candidate Panduleni Itula.{{Cite news | last=Nembwaya | first=Hileni | title=NEFF and RP throw weight behind Itula | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/85235/read/NEFF-and-RP-throw-weight-behind-Itula | newspaper=The Namibian | date= 7 November 2019 | page=1}} The United Democratic Front (UDF) in turn withdrew their candidate to back McHenry Venaani, presidential candidate of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) and leader of the official opposition. In August 2019, the two parties signed a coalition agreement for the coming legislative period, allocating parliamentary seats 6, 13 and 18 to the UPM, and the others to PDM, in an entity to be known as the PDM-UPM coalition.{{Cite news | last=Klukowski | first=Steven | title=PDM-UPM coalition to challenge Swapo | url=https://neweralive.na/posts/pdm-upm-coalition-to-challenge-swapo | newspaper=New Era | date= 24 October 2019}} The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) formed a coalition with the Christian Democratic Voice (CDV), both parties supported Mike Kavekotora of the RDP.{{cite news | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/82819/read/RDP-Christian-Democratic-Voice-form-coalition | newspaper=The Namibian | title = RDP, Christian Democratic Voice form coalition | publisher = Namibia Press Agency | date=6 September 2019 | page=3}}

The following parties fielded candidates to contest the legislative election:{{cite journal |editor1-last=Andreas |editor1-first=Rakkel|title=Spot the Difference:Namibia's Political Parties Compared |date=October 2019 |url=https://www.ecn.na/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Spot_the_Difference_2019_Presidential-and-National-Assembly-elections.pdf |access-date=27 December 2022|website=Electoral Commission of Namibia}}{{cite web |title=Election for Namibian National Assembly |url=https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3267/|website=IFES Election Guide |access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226041933/https://www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3267/ |archive-date=26 December 2022 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=RDP, Christian Democratic Voice form coalition |url=https://www.namibian.com.na/82819/read/RDP-Christian-Democratic-Voice-form-coalition |access-date=27 December 2022 |work=The Namibian |date=6 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227094425/https://www.namibian.com.na/192738/archive-read/RDP-Christian-Democratic-Voice-form-coalition |archive-date=27 December 2022}}{{cite web |title=About RPD |url=http://www.rdp.org.na/index.php?module=Pages&func=display&pageid=5 |website=Rally for Democracy and Progress|access-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427195102/http://www.rdp.org.na/index.php?module=Pages&func=display&pageid=5 |archive-date=27 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}

Ten candidates contested the presidential elections, with Hage Geingob of SWAPO widely expected to win a second term as president.{{Cite news | title=Namibian elections: The sands are shifting – slowly | last=Melber | first=Henning | author-link=Henning Melber | newspaper=Mail & Guardian | date=26 November 2019 | url=https://mg.co.za/article/2019-11-26-namibian-elections-the-sands-are-shifting-slowly}}{{Cite news | title=After the victory, comes the battle | newspaper=Windhoek Observer | date=22 October 2019 | url=https://www.observer.com.na/index.php/national/item/11585-after-the-victory-comes-the-battle | access-date=26 November 2019 | archive-date=27 November 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127221655/https://www.observer.com.na/index.php/national/item/11585-after-the-victory-comes-the-battle | url-status=dead }} For the first time, an independent candidate, Panduleni Itula, ran for president. Esther Muinjangue of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) was the first female presidential candidate in Namibia.{{Cite news | title=Letters to the Editor: All set for Namibian elections | last=Ngwawi | first=Joseph | newspaper=The Chronicle | date=21 November 2019 | url=https://www.chronicle.co.zw/letters-to-the-editor-all-set-for-namibian-elections/}}

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.{{cite news | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/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}}

{{Election results

|cand1=Hage Geingob|party1=SWAPO|votes1=464703

|cand2=Panduleni Itula|party2=Independent|votes2=242657

|cand3=McHenry Venaani|party3=Popular Democratic Movement|votes3=43959

|cand4=Bernadus Swartbooi|party4=Landless People's Movement|votes4=22542

|cand5=Apius Auchab|party5=United Democratic Front|votes5=22115

|cand6=Esther Muinjangue|party6=National Unity Democratic Organisation|votes6=12039

|cand7=Tangeni Iiyambo|party7=SWANU|votes7=5959

|cand8=Henk Mudge|party8=Republican Party|votes8=4379

|cand9=Mike Kavekotora|party9=Rally for Democracy and Progress|votes9=3515

|cand10=Ignatius Shixwameni|party10=All People's Party|votes10=3304

|cand11=Epafras Mukwiilongo|party11=Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters|votes11=1026

|invalid=0

|electorate=1358468

|source=[https://web.archive.org/web/20201126191804/https://www.ecn.na/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Final-Election-Results-Announcement-Speech-ECN-Chair-30-Nov-2019.pdf ECN]

}}

SWAPO won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, as it had in years prior, but narrowly missed the threshold for a two-thirds majority, which it had 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.

{{Election results

|image=File:Namibia National Assembly, 2019.svg

|party1=SWAPO|votes1=536861|seats1=63|sc1=–14

|party2=Popular Democratic Movement|votes2=136576|seats2=16|sc2=+11

|party3=Landless People's Movement|votes3=38956|seats3=4|sc3=New

|party4=National Unity Democratic Organisation|votes4=16066|seats4=2|sc4=0

|party5=All People's Party|votes5=14664|seats5=2|sc5=0

|party6=United Democratic Front|votes6=14644|seats6=2|sc6=0

|party7=Republican Party|votes7=14546|seats7=2|sc7=+1

|party8=Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters|votes8=13580|seats8=2|sc8=+2

|party9=Rally for Democracy and Progress|votes9=8953|seats9=1|sc9=–2

|party10=Christian Democratic Voice|votes10=5841|seats10=1|sc10=+1

|party11=SWANU|votes11=5330|seats11=1|sc11=0

|party12=Congress of Democrats|votes12=4654|seats12=0|sc12=0

|party13=National Democratic Party|votes13=4559|seats13=0|sc13=0

|party14=Workers Revolutionary Party|votes14=3212|seats14=0|sc14=–2

|party15=National Patriotic Front|votes15=1785|seats15=0|sc15=New

|row16=Appointed members|seats16=8|sc16=0

|total_sc=0

|invalid=0

|electorate=1358468

|source= ECN

}}

Runner-up Itula challenged the outcome of the elections in court, based on the Electoral Act of 2014 that allows electronic voting machines (EVMs) only in combination with a Verifiable Paper Trail (VPPT). For the Namibian elections in 2014, 2015 and now 2019, EVMs without a paper trail were used after Charles Namoloh, the responsible minister at the time, enacted the law without the paper trail provision. The Supreme Court of Namibia ruled in February 2020 that this enactment was unconstitutional because it violates the separation of powers. The court, however, declined to set aside the elections carried out using such failed process, as there were no indications the devices were tampered with.{{Cite news | title=Election survives EVM challenge | last=Menges | first=Werner | newspaper=The Namibian | date=6 February 2020 | page=1 | url=https://www.namibian.com.na/197687/archive-read/Election-survives-EVM-challenge}} This has attracted some controversy.{{Cite web | url=https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/vote-but-you-cannot-verify-the-namibian-supreme-courts-presidential-election-decision/ | title=Vote, But You Cannot Verify: The Namibian Supreme Court's Presidential Election Decision | first=Ndjodi | last=Ndeunyema | website=Oxford Human Rights Hub | publisher=University of Oxford}}

{{reflist}}

{{Namibian elections}}

Category:Presidential elections in Namibia

Category:Parliamentary elections in Namibia

Election, general

Namibia

Category:National Assembly (Namibia)

Namibia

Category:Supreme Court of Namibia