The preliminary results suggest President Hage Geingob has secured a second term for himself as he has clearly taken a lead in Namibia’s presidential election with roughly two-thirds of the votes counted following Wednesday’s vote, reported Reuters. The southwestern African country held its sixth presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
According to The Electoral Commission of Namibia’s results platform, Geingob had grossed over 59% of votes. In 2014, the president was elected with a sweeping 87 percent majority. But this time he has lost a share of votes to a breakaway SWAPO member running as an independent candidate, Panduleni Itula, a dentist-turned-politician.
Geingob’s first term was overshadowed by a recession for the past two years and a drought that ravaged agricultural export crops, stirring people’s anger against him and his party. His credibility took a hit over a giant fishing scandal that came to light just before the election. A series of leaked documents alleged that senior government officials awarded horse mackerel quotas to Samherji, one of Iceland’s biggest fishing firms, in exchange for bribes.
Meanwhile, Itula, who is popular with young people, nearly half of whom are unemployed, has polled over 29 percent of the votes counted so far, winning two regions. Venaani McHenry who leads the main opposition Popular Democratic Movement is in third place with 5 percent of votes. Notably, about 15 percent of the votes are still left to be tabulated.
As per the results, Geingob’s South West Africa People’s (SWAPO) party is also leading in the legislative vote. The party has been in power since Namibia’s independence from South Africa in 1990 and is widely hailed for its role in the liberation struggle.
In legislative voting for 96 members of parliament, SWAPO has got 65.21 percent of the vote with 53.28 percent of the ballots counted, while Venaani’s Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has secured 15.73 percent votes.
