By Petronella Sibeene WINDHOEK THE Swapo party has emerged victorious in the local authority elections conducted over the weekend at Okahao, Oshikuku and Ruacana. Based on the statistical analysis of votes per contesting party in the three areas, Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Director Philemon Kanime confirmed to New Era that in the Ruacana area where Swapo and National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) were in contest, there were 966 registered voters. Of this number, 780 votes were cast and 774 were valid. The Swapo party obtained 684 votes while NUDO received 90 votes. Candidates declared to be fully elected are Shapaka Febronia, Mbwale Linda, Shooya Simon and Uutoni Kristofina. NUDO got one seat and the candidate is Tjapuha Lisias. In the Oshikuku Local Authority area with 586 registered voters, 463 votes were cast with 100 percent validity, making Swapo automatically the winner. The five councillors are Mungandjera Mbockoma, Hidulika Salomo, Shinana Hilya, Shivute Magano and Gabriel Anna. In the Okahao area where only Swapo contested, there were 444 registered voters who cast 336 valid votes. Being a town, unlike the other two places considered as villages and can only by law have five councillors, Okahao voted for seven candidates whose names are Iiyambo Paulus, Iiyambula Cornelia, Isai David, Haipinge Hilda, Kanime Mertha, Katoole Julia and Nuute Naftal. According to Kanime, the elections were free and fair with an excellent turnout. “If all elections in the country could take shape and go according to the procedures like these elections, then democracy would flow.” Voting took place on Saturday starting at 07h00 and ending at 21h00. The announcement of results at Oshikuku and Okahao took place at about 23h00, while the Ruacana results were announced by 00h30. Overall, the ECN has expressed satisfaction with the manner in which the local authority elections were conducted.