72-Year-Old Nandi-Ndaitwah Emerges Namibia’s First Female President

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the candidate of Namibia’s ruling party in last week’s contested presidential election, has been declared the winner, becoming the country’s first female president, according to official results.

The 72-year-old member of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party secured over 57% of the vote, as announced by the Electoral Commission of Namibia on Tuesday evening. Her main competitor, Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) party, garnered 25.50% of the vote.

“The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability,” Nandi-Ndaitwah was quoted as saying by Reuters after the results were revealed. Upon taking office, she will join Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan as one of the only female leaders currently serving in Africa.

Nandi-Ndaitwah’s victory extends SWAPO’s 34-year dominance in the vast but sparsely populated nation (population 2.6 million). The party has been in power since Namibia gained independence in 1990, despite ongoing public dissatisfaction over issues such as unemployment, poverty, and corruption.

Support for SWAPO dropped from 87% in the 2014 presidential election to 56% in 2019, raising concerns that the party might lose its hold on power this year. In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC), which governed since the end of apartheid, lost its majority in the historic June elections. Similarly, in October, the Botswana Democratic Party lost power to the opposition Umbrella for Democratic Change, ending nearly 60 years of rule.

Nandi-Ndaitwah was appointed as SWAPO’s candidate by former Namibian President Hage Geingob in March 2023. She had previously served as vice president to Nangolo Mbumba, who assumed the presidency after Geingob’s death in February. Nandi-Ndaitwah also served as Minister of Environment and Tourism from March 2010 to December 2012. In the mid-1970s, she studied at the Lenin Higher Komsomol School in the Soviet Union.

The newly elected president has identified unemployment as Namibia’s “biggest challenge” and has pledged to prioritize job creation, particularly for the youth. She has attributed the country’s economic difficulties to factors such as droughts and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The November 27 general elections also saw the election of members to Namibia’s National Assembly, though the voting process was delayed by technical issues and, in some areas, required a three-day extension. SWAPO secured a majority in the assembly with 51 out of 96 elected seats.

Itula’s IPC party, the main opposition, won 20 seats but has threatened to challenge the election results in court, citing “glaring and undeniable” electoral irregularities.

“We will not, under any circumstances, recognize the outcome of the 2024 election… which, in our view, remains illegitimate,” said the 67-year-old former dentist and lawyer in a statement on Saturday.

Several other opposition parties also boycotted the election authority’s announcement ceremony in the capital, Windhoek, in protest, according to a report by The Namibian on Wednesday.

• RT Africa