Namibia votes Wednesday in an election that promises to be far removed from the overwhelming victories enjoyed by former liberation movement SWAPO since independence in 1990.
Namibian President Hage Geingob, right, greets supporters at an election rally in Grootfontein, Namibia, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019.
Foreign interests abound in this sparsely populated nation of about 2.5 million people, with sometimes damaging results. Two cabinet ministers resigned this month after Iceland’s biggest seafood company, Samherji, was accused of paying bribes to Namibian politicians and officials for access to Namibia’s fishing quota, another key economic resource.
This time the 78-year-old Geingob faces an unexpected challenge in Dr. Panduleni Itula, a dentist. Itula is standing as an independent candidate but retains his SWAPO membership and is expected to grab a chunk of Geingob’s support. Commentators differ on what his impact will be. Other candidates include the official opposition Popular Democratic Movement, led by 42-year-old McHenry Venaani. It has largely been campaigning around the issue of SWAPO’s two-thirds majority in parliament, which Venaani says has fueled impunity and graft.
Unlike in previous elections, “we might see a huge turnout of young people this time around, and if that happens then it will be good news for Itula and bad news for Geingob,” said Ndumba Kamwanyah, a political analyst.
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