National Unity Democratic Organisation | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | NUDO |
President | Esther Muinjangue |
Secretary-General | Joseph Kauandenge |
Vice president | Peter Kazongominja |
Founders | Mburumba Kerina Clemens Kapuuo Hosea Kutako |
Founded | September 1965 |
Split from | Popular Democratic Movement (formerly DTA) in 2003 |
Headquarters | Windhoek Khomas Region |
Ideology | Herero minority politics |
Colors | Red White Green |
Seats in the National Assembly | 2 / 104 |
Seats in the National Council | 1 / 42 |
Regional Councillors | 4 / 121 |
Local councillors | 11 / 378 |
Pan-African Parliament | 1 / 5 |
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 (now PDM) prior to the 2004 general and local elections. The party's president is Esther Muinjangue.
NUDO was founded by Mburumba Kerina, Clemens Kapuuo, and Hosea Kutako in September 1965 at the suggestion of the Herero Chief’s Council. It was thus, at that time, an organisation that had mainly Herero followers. [1] [2] At the 1975-1977 Turnhalle Constitutional Conference, several ethnically based parties agreed to join the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance to form one joint opposition to SWAPO which at that time had turned the struggle for Namibian independence into a guerrilla war. [3]
NUDO remained part of the DTA until it withdrew in September 2003, accusing the DTA of failing to work for Herero interests. The party then held a congress in January 2004. [4] [5]
Esther Utjiua Muinjangue became the party’s first elected female president and the first elected female leader of a Namibian political party when she defeated the Okakarara constituency councillor, Vetaruhe Kandorozu, at the party’s third elective congress, which took place on 25–26 March 2019. At the elective congress, which was held in Windhoek, Peter Kazongominja was elected vice president and Josef Kauandenge was elected secretary-general of the party. Muinjangue defeated the councillor by 240 to 227 votes. [6] [7]
Election | Candidate | Votes | % | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Kuaima Riruako | 34,651 | 4.23% | Lost |
2009 | 23,735 | 2.92% | Lost | |
2014 | Asser Mbai | 16,740 | 1.88% | Lost |
2019 | Esther Muinjangue | 12,039 | 1.5% | Lost |
2024 | Did not contest |
Election | Party leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Kuaima Riruako | 34,814 | 4.25% | 3 / 72 | New | 4th | Opposition |
2009 | 24,422 | 3.01% | 2 / 72 | 1 | 4th | Opposition | |
2014 | Asser Mbai | 17,942 | 2.01% | 2 / 96 | 0 | 6th | Opposition |
2019 | Esther Muinjangue | 16,066 | 1.96% | 2 / 96 | 0 | 4th | Opposition |
2024 | Esther Muinjangue | 10,687 | 0.98% | 1 / 96 | 1 | 10th | Opposition |
Election | Seats |
---|---|
2004 | 09 / 303 |
2010 | 09 / 327 |
2015 | 11 / 378 |
In the parliamentary election held on 15 and 16 November 2004, the party won 4.1% of popular votes and three out of 78 seats. Herero Chief Kuaima Riruako, the President of NUDO, was its candidate in the concurrent presidential election, placing fourth with 4.23% of the national vote. NUDO president Kuaima Riruako died on 2 June 2014, and was succeeded by Asser Mbai. in the 2014 National Assembly elections NUDO won two seats which went to president Asser Mbai and secretary-general Meundju Jahanika. [8]
Omaheke is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, the least populous region. Its capital is Gobabis. It lies in eastern Namibia on the border with Botswana and is the western extension of the Kalahari Desert. The self-governed villages of Otjinene, Leonardville and Witvlei are situated in the region. As of 2020, Omaheke had 48,594 registered voters.
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.
Hereroland was a bantustan and later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Hereros, in South West Africa, intended by the apartheid-era government to be a self-governing homeland for the Herero people.
Kuaima Isaac Riruako was a Namibian politician and the paramount chief of the Herero people. He served as a National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) representative in Parliament, and he was the President of NUDO and its presidential candidate in the 2004 presidential election, placing fourth with 4.23% of the national vote.
Fanuel Jariretundu Kozonguizi was a Namibian lawyer and politician. He served as permanent petitioner to the United Nations on the issue of Namibian independence, and was a high-ranking administrator in South-West Africa prior to Namibian independence, both under South African administration and in the Transitional Government. In independent Namibia he was a member of Parliament and ombudsman. Kozonguizi was a founding member and first president of the South West African National Union.
Clemens Kapuuo was a Namibian school teacher, shopkeeper, president of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), now called Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), and chief of the Herero people of Namibia. Kapuuo was one of the leading opponents of South African rule of his country until his assassination following the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference.
Okakarara is a town in Otjozondjupa Region, Namibia, located 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Waterberg National Park. It has an estimated population of 7,000 and is currently growing by 1,500 inhabitants annually.
The Federal Convention of Namibia (FCN) was a political party based in Rehoboth, Namibia. It was created in the wake of Namibian independence in 1988 by a merger of several smaller parties and gained a seat in the Namibian Constituent Assembly. After also-ran results in 1994 and 1999 it ceased to be publicly active.
Kalahari Constituency is an electoral constituency in the Omaheke Region of eastern central Namibia. It had 9,234 inhabitants in 2004 and 5,294 registered voters in 2020. The constituency covers the rural area east of Gobabis as well as Gobabis' Nossobville suburb. The constituency office has been inaugurated in 2009 and is located at the Ben-Hur settlement. Kalahari constituency forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana.
Asser Mbai is a Namibian politician who was the President of the National Unity Democratic Organization (NUDO) from 2014 to 2019. He has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia since 2005 after succeeding Kuaima Riruako as President of NUDO following the latter's death on 2 June 2014.
Otjiwarongo Constituency is an electoral constituency in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It had 22,614 inhabitants in 2004 and 22,931 registered voters in 2020. The constituency consists of the town of Otjiwarongo and the surrounding rural area.
Otjinene is a village in the Omaheke Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjinene Constituency. Otjinene is connected via a 157 kilometres (98 mi) tarred road to the regional capital Gobabis, and via a 227 kilometres (141 mi) road which was tarred in 2017, to Grootfontein.
Mburumba Kerina was a Namibian politician and academic. He was a co-founder of SWAPO, NUDO, and FCN, and the founder of a host of smaller political parties. For independent Namibia, he was a member of Namibia's Constituent Assembly, as well as the National Assembly and the National Council. Kerina coined the name "Namib" for the independent state "Namibia" on the territory of South West Africa.
Opuwo Rural is an electoral constituency in the Kunene Region of Namibia. The administrative centre of Opuwo Rural is the settlement of Otuani. As of 2020, it has 7,315 registered voters.
St Barnabas was an Anglican mission station, church, and school in Windhoek, the administrative centre of South West Africa. The school was situated in the Old Location suburb. When Old Location was closed for blacks in 1968 the existing buildings and institutions, among them St Barnabas, were destroyed.
Esther Utjiua Muinjangue is a Namibian politician and the president of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO), a party that occupies two seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Council of Namibia. In addition, she is the first woman to lead a political party in Namibia, and the country's first female presidential candidate. She was appointed as the country's deputy minister of health and social services in March 2020 by Namibian President Hage Geingob. She has for a long time been advocating for social workers’ role in many aspects of people’s lives and at different levels.