As Namibia votes, its ruling party faces toughest race yet

WINDHOEK - Namibians vote Wednesday in pivotal presidential and legislative elections that could upset the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation's 34-year grip on power.

SWAPO's candidate, current vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, could become the country's first female president if elected.

But the 72-year-old may be forced into a second-round run-off if she fails to garner at least half the vote.

Polls in the sparsely populated desert nation open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 9:00 pm with results expected by Saturday, according to the electoral calendar.

Nandi-Ndaitwah, a political veteran known as NNN, has four main challengers including Panduleni Itula, 67, a former dentist and lawyer who founded the Independent Patriots for Change party in 2020.

High unemployment, enduring inequalities and an emerging generation less supportive of the liberation-era party are changing the political landscape.

A former SWAPO member, Itula took 29 percent of votes in the last elections in 2019, losing to SWAPO leader Hage Geingob, who garnered 56 percent of votes.

Despite the loss, Itula's performance was remarkable considering Geingob, who died in February, took almost 87 percent five years earlier.

For the first time in the southern African nation's recent history, a second round is "a somewhat realistic option", said Henning Melber, of the Nordic Africa Institute at the University of Uppsala.

A run-off would take place within 60 days of the first-round results announcement.

The country is mineral-rich and a major uranium and diamond exporter but not all of its nearly three million people have benefitted from that wealth.

"There's a lot of mining activity that goes on in the country, but it doesn't really translate into improved infrastructure, job opportunities," said independent political analyst Marisa Lourenco, based in Johannesburg.

"That's where a lot of the frustration is coming from, (especially) the youth," she added.

Unemployment among 15- to 34-year-olds is estimated at 46 percent, according to the latest figures from 2018. This is almost triple the national average.

'IMMEDIATE NEEDS'

After three decades under the rule of Marxist-turned-socialist SWAPO, Namibia is one of the most unequal countries on Earth, according to the World Bank.

Though the party's founders led the country to independence from white-ruled South Africa in 1990, its current leaders are nervous about suffering the same fate as other liberation-era movements in the region.

In the past six months, South Africa's African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority and the Botswana Democratic Party was ousted after almost six decades in power.

In Mozambique, though the ruling Frelimo won recent elections, civil society and opposition groups have protested for weeks claiming fraud and demanding change.

"Young people have been feeling the brunt of the current economic downturn in a lot of African countries," said Nic Cheeseman, a professor specialised in African politics at the University of Birmingham.

"It's not just that they're young and it's not just that they don't remember, it's also that they really feel the pinch of the economic crisis."

"The challenges affecting Namibia, similar to the challenges affecting other African countries, are shifting the political landscape drastically," said Tendai Mbanje, an election expert at the Johannesburg-based African Centre for Governance.

"Elections are (now) about the immediate needs of the citizens, and particularly young people."

First-time voter Thabang Mosenedi, 19, told AFP she wanted a break with the past.

"As long as there's change, I'm okay either way," said the student. "A lot of people are complaining that there aren't any jobs and that the government isn't doing anything to help."