Namibia’s parliamentary and presidential elections : the honeymoon is over

Abstract

For the first time, the former liberation movement SWAPO as government and its presidential candidate have recorded a loss in voter support. The National Assembly and Presidential election results of 27 November 2019 were the worst since Independence and suggest a turning point in Namibia’s democracy. This analysis presents some factors which might have influenced a change in voting patterns ahead of the elections. It then analyses the results of the parliamentary elections, followed by an anatomy of the vote for the country’s president. It then engages with the controversy triggered by the electronic voting process and ends with an overview on the stage possibly entered by Namibian democracy and the country’s political culture after what seems to have been a shifting ground.