Politics of Namibia takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Namibia is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by both the president and the government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The South West Africa People's Organisation, officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia. Founded in 1960, it has been the governing party in Namibia since the country achieved independence in 1990. The party continues to be dominated in number and influence by the Ovambo ethnic group.
Elections in Namibia determine who holds public political offices in the country. Namibia is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic. It runs direct elections every five years for the position of the president and seats in the National Assembly, and every six years for the Regional Councils and the distribution of seats in local authorities. The National Council is elected indirectly by the constituency councillors of Namibia's 14 regions.
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic Front, it formed the official opposition in Parliament until the parliamentary elections in 2009. The party currently holds 5 seats in the Namibian National Assembly and one seat in the Namibian National Council and has lost its status as the official opposition party, taking the fourth place. McHenry Venaani is the President of the PDM.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) is a political party in Namibia. Justus ǁGaroëb founded the party in 1989 and led it until 2013. The party president since January 2024 is Hendrik Gaobaeb. The UDF is represented in the National Assembly and the National Council. 1 regional councillor and 21 local councillors are from the UDF.
The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) is a political party in Namibia. It has been represented in the National Assembly of Namibia and in the National Council of Namibia since it split from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance prior to the 2004 general and local elections. The party's president is Esther Muinjangue.
The National Democratic Party (NDP) is a political party in Namibia. It was formed in 1973 as the Ovamboland Independence Party (OIP) by Silas Ipumbu. It took the name NDP to contest the elections to the Ovambo Legislative Assembly, by then under the leadership of Cornelius Tuhafeni Ndjoba. The party's base was amongst the Ovambo people. The party is currently under the leadership of Mr. Martin Lukato Lukato. NDP won one seat in the National Assembly, sending Lukato to parliament, in the National Assembly election of 2024.
General elections were held in Namibia on 30 November and 1 December 1999 to elect a president and the National Assembly. Voting took place over two days, after the Commission was persuaded by protests from political parties that a single polling day would be insufficient to accommodate travel to polling stations by voters in remote areas.
General elections were held in Namibia on 27–28 November 2009. They were the fourth general elections since independence and the fifth democratic elections. Voting ended on 28 November and official election results, released on 4 December, showed that Hifikepunye Pohamba and his SWAPO Party were re-elected, each with over 75% of the vote. Prior to the election, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was widely expected to score a landslide victory, with the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) considered SWAPO's biggest challenger. Fourteen political parties competed for seats in the National Assembly of Namibia, and twelve candidates ran for the presidency.
Henry Ferdinand "Henk" Mudge is a Namibian politician and President of the Republican Party. He was the party's only member of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2004 to 2011, when he resigned.
The All People's Party (APP) is a political party in Namibia.
McHenry Venaani is a Namibian politician and the President of the Popular Democratic Movement, a party with five seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Council of Namibia. Venaani was contesting for a presidential race which took place on the 27th November 2024. Venaani has been a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2010, in 2014, and since 2015. At the time of his appointment in 2002, he was Namibia's youngest MP. He was one of the three candidates standing for election as Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority in January 2023, competing against Hoze Riruako and Mike Kavekotora.
The Namibia Democratic Movement for Change (NDMC) was a Namibian political party. It was founded in October 2003 under the umbrella of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance but left it prior to the 2004 parliamentary election due to an internal power struggle. The party "targeted the rural population in eastern Namibia, but [...] with little success." It contested the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections but each time failed to gain a seat in Parliament.
The United People's Movement, formerly known as the Rehoboth Democratic Movement, is a political party based in Rehoboth, Namibia. It formed in March 2010 and is headed by Willem Bismark van Wyk (President) and former leading Democratic Turnhalle Alliance member Piet Junius. The party changed names in August 2010 to the United People's Movement. The party officially registered with the Electoral Commission in July 2010 and contested the November 2010 local and regional elections, where it won 2 seats in the Rehoboth local council and 1 seat on the Okahandja Municipality.
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.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is an agency of the government of Namibia. It was founded in 1992 under the Electoral Act 24 of 1992. The aim of the commission is to oversee all Namibian electoral activities starting from voter registration and political party registration, to the setting and monitoring of elections, counting of ballots and making results available.
The Sons of Mesopotamia, also known as Abnaa Al-Nahrain and Bnay Nahrain, was an ethnic Assyrian political party based in northern Iraq. It was founded in 2013, and was headquartered in Erbil, Iraq. Established to further the political objectives of the Assyrian people in Iraq, the party won one seat in the 2013 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election.
General elections were held in Namibia on 27 November 2019. Ballots were cast using electronic voting. A total of eleven candidates ran for the presidency and fifteen political parties contested the National Assembly elections.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candidate in a Namibian presidential election. At the founding meeting on 2 August 2020 in Windhoek, Itula was elected party president, Brian Kefas Black chairman and Christine Esperanza ǃAochamus general secretary. Trevino Forbes, the current Mayor of Walvis Bay, serves as the current Vice President of the party.
