Uakutura Kambaekua

OPUWO – The battle between the ruling party, Swapo, the Popular Democratic Movement and the United Democratic Front for Kunene’s seven constituencies has reached boiling point. 

This is so, as the parties prepare for next year’s local government and regional constituency elections.

Last week’s Presidential and National Assembly elections demonstrated political parties’ desire for authority and oversight in the region.  Swapo dominated in four constituencies out of seven in Kunene, including the opposition stronghold. The ruling party reigned supreme in Sesfontein, Outjo, Kamanjab, and the Opuwo Urban constituencies.

Apart from Outjo, which is presently held by Swapo, all these constituencies were previously won by UDF (Sesfontein, Kamanjab), and the PDM (Opuwo Urban).

However, the UDF and PDM maintained the status quo in Khorixas and Epupa, and Opuwo Rural, respectively.

Swapo also emerged victorious in the Kunene parliamentary race, with 16 452 votes (35.89%), an 8.4% reduction compared to their 2019 results which stood at 44.29%. PDM likewise had a decrease from 34.05% in 2019 to 32.05% after gaining 14 691 votes, with UDF being the major winner, increasing their 2019 vote share by 2.05% to 12.57% (5 761). Swapo presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah outperformed her party, receiving 17 949 votes (39.07%), while PDM’s McHenry Venaani acquired 14 607 votes, translating to 31.80%. UDF’s Hendrik Gaobaeb received 5 044 votes (10.98%).

Despite Swapo’s success in four constituencies in last week’s national elections, PDM regional coordinator Karitjindua Hepute argued it was merely a repeat of history and nothing new. While reflecting on the elections, Hepute told Nampa this is not the first election in which the ruling party has emerged the dominating party; still, they [Swapo] lost to PDM in 2019 in the Opuwo Urban constituency.

According to Hepute: “Any registered voter could have voted at any polling station because Namibia became one constituency during these elections, so we are not concerned with Swapo’s dominance. PDM will prosper and maintain its dominance in next year’s local government elections.”
Hepute further asserted that Swapo’s dominance in Opuwo Urban was due to the Electoral Commission of Namibia’s slow voting procedure, which forced them [PDM] to transport most of their members to surrounding polling stations, notably the Epupa constituency. “Voting at Opuwo was extremely slow with several abnormalities. We had to take the majority of our people to vote at other polling sites in the Epupa constituency,” he explained.

Hepute further stated that Kunene North is theirs for the taking and that next year’s election will be no different. “The status quo shall remain intact, we are ready to deliver all three constituencies under our leadership come next year,” he said.
He also advised other political parties to stop wasting resources by fielding candidates for Opuwo Rural since they had and will continue having little chance of winning the constituency.

Epupa Constituency also saw a high Swapo participation, which experts ascribed to former PDM chief whip Vipuakuje Muharukua joining Swapo this year. Muharukua hails from Epupa and has been expected to play a role in both elections, potentially increasing Swapo support.

However, Hepute argues that Muharukua’s departure from PDM has little influence on the official opposition party’s numbers.

“We only lost seven members who went with him, his departure from the party hasn’t affected our numbers, and I must reiterate that Epupa is ours, we will win it next year,” he predicted. PDM has won Opuwo Rural with a sizable vote margin since it was separated from Opuwo to become an independent constituency. Opuwo Rural was established in August 2013 in response to a proposal by Namibia’s Fourth Delimitation Commission, and the former Opuwo Constituency was divided into Opuwo Urban and Opuwo Rural for the 2014 general elections.

For Nico Somaeb, the Kamanjab Constituency councillor who also serves as UDF vice president: “The national election provides a platform for all Namibians to vote anywhere in Namibia, and Kamanjab is a central base in the region and a gateway for most visitors, particularly Kunene North and northern visitors.” “This attests that residents from other regions voted in the Kamanjab constituency,” he said. He said UDF has nothing to be concerned about considering the party has provided service to every inhabitant, and voters trust UDF’s leadership.

“UDF will win Kamanjab Constituency for years to come,” he confidently reaffirmed.

He went on: “National elections are distinct from regional and local authority elections. The regional and local authority elections focus on candidate capacity, and this demonstrates that Kamanjab residents trust the candidates placed by the UDF, ensuring full voter support for the party.” Julius Kaujova, Swapo’s Kunene regional coordinator, attributed the ruling party’s recent performance to the combined efforts and devotion of all party members.
He projected that the opposition’s dominance in the region would soon end as the people began to trust and observe the government’s performance in resolving their grievances and collective issues. “It is for these reasons that the people have now changed and started believing in the ideas of Swapo,” added Kaujova.

He argued that the national elections would have a substantial influence on local government elections and that Swapo’s national election results would be similarly reflected next year. Despite the outstanding achievement, Kaujova stated that the party still has a long road ahead, with the implementation of next year’s local and regional council election campaign plans a major priority.

Kaujova expects Swapo to take at least five constituencies in the Kunene region.

Swapo’s National Assembly representation dropped by 12 seats after the party won only 51 seats in the recent elections. The party currently holds 63 of the 96 available seats.

ECN reported that 1.1 million Namibians voted in the National Assembly elections. Swapo is followed by the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) who got 20 seats, Affirmative Repositioning (AR) with six seats, and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and Popular Democratic Movement the PDM with five each.

The United Democratic Front, Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters, Swanu, Republican Party, National Unity Democratic Organisation, All People’s Party, National Democratic Party and Body of Christ Party all have one seat each.

Parties that failed to get a single seat include Rally for Democracy and Progress, National Empowerment Fighting Corruption, United Namibians Party, Action Democratic Movement Party, United People’s Movement, Congress of Democrats, Christian Democratic Voice and National Patriotic Front. Swapo’s presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, was elected Namibia’s first female president – to be inaugurated next year. -Nampa