2014 Namibian general election

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2014 Namibian general election
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Presidential election
  Hage Geingob (cropped).jpg McHenry Venaani speech 2017 (cropped).jpg
Nominee Hage Geingob McHenry Venaani
Party SWAPO DTA
Popular vote772,52844,271
Percentage86.73%4.97%
2014 Namibian presidential election by region.svg
Results by region
President before election

Hifikepunye Pohamba
SWAPO

Elected President

Hage Geingob
SWAPO

General elections were held in Namibia on 28 November 2014, although early voting took place in foreign polling stations and for seagoing personnel on 14 November. The elections were the first on the African continent to use electronic voting. [1] [2]

Contents

A total of nine candidates ran for the presidency, whilst 16 political parties contested the National Assembly elections. Hage Geingob of the ruling SWAPO party, won the presidential elections with 87% of the vote. SWAPO also won the National Assembly elections, taking 80% of the vote. [3]

Presidential election

Candidates

Originally, incumbent President Pohamba predicted that twenty-two candidates would contest the presidential election. [4] In the end, only nine political parties submitted presidential candidates. [5]

SWAPO

In 2008, the SWAPO Central Committee produced a policy document stating that the party's candidate would be chosen for each election among the top four Committee members. In March 2011 SWAPO declared that whoever was the party's vice-president following the forthcoming party elections would also be the party's candidate in 2014 for president. Some high-level party members, particularly Kazenambo Kazenambo, advocated that SWAPO choose a non-Ovambo candidate, as the first two Presidents, Sam Nujoma and Pohamba, were from the Ovambo people. Others advocated the selection of a woman. SWAPO indicated that the candidate would be chosen democratically in the 2012 party election. [6]

SWAPO was viewed as the clear favorite going into the election. [2]

Parliamentary election

SWAPO announced a gender equality system where women would fill half of their seats in parliament. The party also embraced what it called a "zebra system", whereby if a minister was a woman, the deputy minister would be a man, and vice versa. Because there were more male SWAPO MPs than female MPs, SWAPO put forward plans to expand parliament to remove the risk of male MPs losing their seats as a result of this gender policy. [7] These changes to the constitution were approved a month prior to the election against the votes of opposition parties, as SWAPO had a two-thirds majority in Parliament. [8] Since then, instead of 78 seats (72 elected, 6 appointed) there 104 seats in the National Assembly (96 elected, 8 appointed). [9]

Results

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Hage Geingob SWAPO 772,52886.73
McHenry Venaani Democratic Turnhalle Alliance 44,2714.97
Hidipo Hamutenya Rally for Democracy and Progress 30,1973.39
Asser Mbai National Unity Democratic Organisation 16,7401.88
Henk Mudge Republican Party 8,6760.97
Ignatius Shixwameni All People's Party 7,2660.82
Usutuaije Maamberua SWANU 5,0280.56
Ben Ulenga Congress of Democrats 3,5180.39
Jan Mukwilongo Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters 2,5140.28
Total890,738100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,241,194–
Source: EISA

National Assembly

Seating of National Assembly of Namibia.svg
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
SWAPO 715,02680.0177+23
Democratic Turnhalle Alliance 42,9334.805+3
Rally for Democracy and Progress 31,3723.513–5
All People's Party 20,4312.292+1
United Democratic Front 18,9452.1220
National Unity Democratic Organisation 17,9422.0120
Workers Revolutionary Party 13,3281.492+2
SWANU 6,3540.7110
United People's Movement 6,3530.711New
Republican Party 6,0990.6810
Congress of Democrats 3,4040.380–1
Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters 3,2590.360New
Monitor Action Group 3,0730.3400
Christian Democratic Voice 2,6060.290New
National Democratic Party 1,3890.1600
Democratic Party of Namibia 1,1310.1300
Appointed members8+2
Total893,645100.00104+26
Registered voters/turnout1,241,194–
Source: ECN

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References

  1. ↑ "Namibia to be Africa's first to use e-voting". bdlive.co.za. 15 November 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 Wendell Roelf, "Namibia's ruling party seen winning Africa's first electronic vote", Reuters, 28 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Publication of results and particulars in respect of general election for election of members of National Assembly: Electoral Act, 2014" (pdf). Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia. No. 5641. Government of Namibia. 30 December 2014. pp. 3–7.
  4. ↑ "22 Presidential candidates for Namibian election". The Villager. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Presidential Candidates: 2014 Elections". Electoral Commission of Namibia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Presidential race thrown wide open Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine New Era , 14 March 2011
  7. ↑ Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd The Guardian, 8 July 2014
  8. ↑ Iileka, Sakeus (11 November 2019). "Parties aim to break Swapo dominance". The Namibian . p. 1.
  9. ↑ Quadri, Maryam Omolara; Thomas, Erika K (2018). "Women and political participation in Namibia and Nigeria: a comparative analysis of women in elective positions" (PDF). Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. 7 (2). University of Namibia: 6–9. ISSN   2026-7215.
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