EENHANA – Swapo Party plans to increase its representation in the Ohangwena Region’s Eenhana and Helao Nafidi municipalities from 86 percent to 100 percent by wresting the 14 percent held by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP).
Currently, Swapo holds six seats out of seven, representing 86 percent of municipal seats in the two local authorities of Eenhana and Helao Nafidi, while the faction-riven RDP that previously claimed its strongholds are in Ohangwena has the minority political stake of 14 percent at local authority level in the region.
Swapo expressed its intention to wrestle the two seats from the RDP when the ruling party held a consultative meeting with the Swapo regional leadership at Eenhana on Wednesday.
The meeting sought to kick-start preparations for the upcoming local authority elections later this year.
“We called the meeting early in the year to prepare the regional and local authorities, so that they can inform the public what our party is all about,” stressed the Swapo regional coordinator, Hafeni Hatutale.
The regional mobiliser for the Ohangwena Region and the councillor for Ondobe Constituency, Mandume Pohamba, said the party would emulate the victory from last year’s presidential and National Aseembly in which it nearly buried its rivals.
According to Pohamba, despite the hiccups of long queues and the slow EVM process, the region has done exceptionally well with the party obtaining 90 percent of the votes cast.
“This is a sign that the people have bought into the manifesto and that’s why we obtained such a high number of votes,” said Pohamba.
According to Pohamba, this is the time for all the people in Swapo’s structures to work hard and deliver what is promised in the party’s manifesto. Furthermore, Pohamba encouraged Swapo Party supporters to go out in numbers and support the party in the regional and local authority elections saying, “Swapo is the future of the Namibian people.”
In addition, the meeting also shed light on the criteria of legible candidates to represent the party in the upcoming regional and upcoming elections.