RUNDU – Analysts are predicting that the leadership battle within the official opposition party Rally of Democracy and Progress (RDP) is likely to cost the RDP dearly in next year’s elections. Dr Andrew Niikondo told New Era yesterday that the RDP does not stand a chance during the elections next year and predicted that the DTA would emerge as the official opposition party.
“The party was just recently formed and already they are fighting for positions. They were supposed to wait for at least five or ten years before looking for a new leadership, when they are stable enough,” he said.
Critics of the party claim that the internal power struggles and depleting party revenue wouldl scupper the party’s ambitions to consolidate its presence in the National Assembly next year. Niikondo said there is a likelihood that the party would be weakened as the elections draw closer due to the power struggle.
“Because of this division going on the party will not be as strong as it was at its beginning. That is why you are seeing that people are migrating to other parties,” he said.
Asked whether RDP has brought any significant change to the country’s political arena, Niikondo said: “Nothing changed, they just came as others came without making any dent and will end up dying slowly. I agree that RDP is strong in urban areas, but they lack support in rural areas where most of the votes normally come from,” said Niikondo.
“People in the rural areas do not want to hear about things such as economic prosperity and other technical things; they simply want to know when a water point will be installed in their area or about pension money. They can talk about economic prosperity when they talk with us academicians or people in the urban areas,” he said.
By Mathias Haufiku