Congress of Democrats

Last updated
Congress of Democrats
President Benjamin Ulenga
FoundedMarch 1999
Split from SWAPO
HeadquartersNo. 8 Storch Street, Windhoek West, Windhoek, Namibia
Women's wing Women Democrats
Ideology Democratic socialism
Political position Left-wing
Colors Blue and Yellow
  
Seats in the National Assembly
0 / 72
Local councillors
2 / 327
Party flag
CODflag.svg
Website
Website of CoD
Coat of Arms of Namibia.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Namibia
CoD symbol CODflag.svg
CoD symbol

The Congress of Democrats (CoD) is a Namibian opposition party without representation in the National Assembly and led by Ben Ulenga. It was established in 1999, prior to that year's general elections, [1] and started off with a number of notable politicians that left the ruling SWAPO party. This includes Ulenga who left SWAPO to protest plans to amend the constitution so that President Sam Nujoma could run for a third term. [2]

Contents

Electoral history

Presidential elections

ElectionCandidateVotes%Result
1999 Ben Ulenga 56,54110.49%LostRed x.svg
2004 59,5477.28%LostRed x.svg
2009 5,8120.72%LostRed x.svg
2014 3,5180.39%LostRed x.svg
2019 Did not run

National Assembly elections

ElectionLeaderVotes%Seats+/–PositionGovernment
1999 Ben Ulenga 53,2899.94%
7 / 96
Increase2.svg 7Increase2.svg 2ndOpposition
2004 59,4647.27%
5 / 96
Decrease2.svg 2Steady2.svg 2ndOpposition
2009 5,3750.66%
1 / 96
Decrease2.svg 4Decrease2.svg 8thOpposition
2014 3,4040.38%
0 / 96
Decrease2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 11thOpposition
2019 4,6450.57%
0 / 96
Steady2.svgDecrease2.svg 12thOpposition

1999 elections

Ulenga contested the 1999 presidential election. He came second behind Nujoma and received 10.5% of the vote. [2] In the parliamentary elections the CoD gained seven seats. Besides Ulenga, Rosa Namises was one of the CoD parliamentarians in this legislative period. [3]

2004 elections

In the parliamentary election held on 15 and 16 November 2004, the party won 7.2% of popular votes and five out of 78 seats, making it the second-largest party behind SWAPO.

2009 elections

In the 2009 general election, the Congress plummeted to eighth place in both presidential and assembly votes, receiving less than one percent of all votes; whereas the All People's Party ran sixth in both contests. Congress lost all but one of its five former seats in the Assembly, and joined the APP (which took one seat) in being tied for fifth through ninth place among parties in the Assembly.

2008 controversy

The CoD held an extraordinary party congress at Keetmanshoop in May 2008, and Ulenga was re-elected as CoD President; he defeated Ignatius Shixwameni by 14 votes, and Shixwameni, rejecting the outcome, left the congress in protest along with about half of the delegates. Shixwameni alleged rigging and claimed that his CoD faction represented the majority of the party; his faction went to the High Court to press these claims. On December 16, 2008, Shixwameni and 21 of his supporters announced their resignations from the CoD, but the faction led by Ulenga said that Shixwameni's resignation was invalid because he and five other party members had already been expelled on August 11, 2007. The Ulenga faction accused Shixwameni of "revolt[ing] against the party and its democratically elected leadership by organising illegitimate parallel national structures against CoD structures, and by attempting to usurp the national leadership of the party" following his defeat at the May 2008 congress. The Ulenga faction also said in December 2007 that it was suing Shixwameni and Nora Schimming-Chase to seek the return of about 260,000 Namibian dollars belonging to the party, which, according to the Ulenga faction, Shixwameni and Schiming-Chase had diverted and spent. [4] In late 2007, Shimwameni's group formed a new party, the All People's Party. [5]

On July 17, 2008, [6] the High Court nullified the May 2007 congress and ruled that the CoD members expelled in August 2007 had to be allowed back into the party. The court also ordered that a new congress be held within five months. Ulenga accepted this decision. [6] [7] Schimming-Chase, who had previously been Vice-President of the CoD, returned to her post as a result of the High Court's decision, but she was not allowed to resume her other previously held post of Chief Whip. In early August, the CoD's National Executive Committee set the date of the new congress as October 2426. [6]

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Tsudao Immanuel Gurirab is a Namibian politician. A member of Congress of Democrats (CoD), Gurirab was previously a member of the ruling South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) until he alongside Ben Ulenga, Ignatius Shixwameni and others left SWAPO to form CoD in 1999. He was also a member of the Pan-African Parliament and the only non-SWAPO member selected from Namibia. In 2007, Gurirab was elected chairperson of the party.

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Jesaya Nyamu is a Namibian politician. A member of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), Nyamu was a high level member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) from 1964, when he fled into exile, until 2002, when he was expelled from the party for "disobedience". He was a member of SWAPO's Central Committee from 1975 until his expulsion from the party in 2002. In 2007, he registered a new political party, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) and was unanimously selected as the party's Secretary General in 2008. He was elected to the National Assembly of Namibia with RDP in the 2009 general election.

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Visolela Rosalinda "Rosa" Namises, nicknamed the "Rosa Luxemburg of Namibia", is a Namibian politician, human-rights activist and reigning chief of the /Khomanin people. She is a former Member of Parliament and founding member and former secretary-general of the Namibian Congress of Democrats (CoD). A prominent voice on gender issues, human-rights violations, and violence against women and children in Namibia, she is the director of Woman Solidarity Namibia and works at the Dolam Residential Child Care centre, a day-care centre for vulnerable children.

References

  1. Sherbourne, Robin. Guide to the Namibian Economy 2013/14. Institute for Public Policy Research, Namibia. p. 11. ISBN   978-99945-78-14-6.
  2. 1 2 Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 428.
  3. "Namises back in Parliament". The Namibian . 25 September 2009.
  4. Brigitte Weidlich, "CoD's Ben Ulenga to sue 'rebel' MPs" [ permanent dead link ], The Namibian, December 21, 2007.
  5. "Namibia's opposition splits, new party emerges" [ permanent dead link ], Panapress (afriquenligne.fr), January 22, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 "CoD congress set for October" [ permanent dead link ], The Namibian, August 8, 2008.
  7. Kuvee Kangueehi, "Namibia: Ulenga Accepts Court Ruling", New Era, Windhoek (allAfrica.com), July 21, 2008.