Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, a member of Namibia’s ruling Swapo party, has been elected president and will be the first woman to lead the country, according to results released Tuesday by the country’s electoral commission. According to a breakdown provided by the Electoral Commission of Namibia, she received almost 57% of the valid votes in the first round last week, thereby exempting herself from the need for a second round.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, is the current vice-president of Namibia, a vast African country located along the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by Angola, Botswana and South Africa. His victory will extend the 34 years of power of the South West Africa People’s Organization (Swapo), which led the country to independence from South Africa. of apartheid in 1990. She is the fifth president in the country’s democratic history, and the first woman to hold this office.
Irregularities, delays: the opposition will contest the vote
Born in the very north of the country, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah completed extensive higher education in the United Kingdom before becoming involved in politics. A member of Swapo since 1966, in hiding, she joined the leaders of the union which became a political party in Zambia, where they went into exile to defend independence from Pretoria. Over the years, she will represent her party in many African countries. Member of Parliament in 1990, she became minister six years later. In 2012, she took over as head of Namibian diplomacy. She had been nominated as a presidential candidate in the spring of 2023.
His main opponent in this election was Panduleni Itula, a 67-year-old former dentist and lawyer, member of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) party, who came second with around 26% of the vote.
On November 27, Namibians also voted to renew the National Assembly. Swapo won the majority there, obtaining 51 of the 96 elected seats. The IPC won 20 seats and will become the official opposition. The IPC said it would challenge the results in court, calling the electoral process “deeply flawed.” The presidential and legislative polls had to be extended twice due to logistical and technical problems, including a shortage of ballot papers.
The country, proud of its peace and the solidity of its democracy, among the world’s leading suppliers of uranium, turned out widely with participation of more than 76% of those registered, according to the electoral commission.