Politics of Namibia
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Politics of Namibia takes place in a framework of a
Additional to the government political structure Namibia has a network of traditional leadership with currently 51 recognised traditional authorities and their leaders. These authorities cover the entire Namibian territory. Traditional leaders are entrusted with the allocation of communal land and the formulation of the traditional group's customary laws. They also take over minor judicial work.
The
Constitution
The Constituent Assembly of
The constitution is noted for being one of the first to incorporate protection of the
While the ethnic-based, three-tier, South African-imposed governing authorities have been dissolved, the current government pledged for the sake of national reconciliation to retain civil servants employed during the colonial period. The government is still organising itself on both national and regional levels.
The
President
The Namibian
Separation of powers
While the
Executive branch
The government is headed by the prime minister, who, together with their cabinet, is appointed by the president. SWAPO, the primary force behind independence, is still the country's largest party. Hage Geingob was Namibia's first prime minister. He was appointed on 21 March 1990 and served until 28 August 2002. Theo-Ben Gurirab was prime minister from 28 August 2002 to 21 March 2005, and Nahas Angula occupied this position from 21 March 2005 to 4 December 2012. He was succeeded by Hage Geingob, who in turn was succeeded as prime minister by Saara Kuugongelwa when he became president of Namibia on 21 March 2015.
Legislative branch
From
Judicial branch
The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court, whose judges are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission. The judicial structure in Namibia parallels that of South Africa. In 1919, Roman-Dutch law was declared the common law of the territory and remains so to the present.
Political parties and elections
Elections were held in 1992, to elect members of 13 newly established Regional Councils, as well as new municipal officials. Two members from each Regional Council serve simultaneously as members of the National Council, the country's second house of Parliament. Nineteen of its members are from the ruling
Namibia has about 40 political groups, ranging from modern political parties to traditional groups based on tribal authority. Some represent single tribes or ethnic groups while others encompass several. Most participate in political alliances, some of which are multiracial, with frequently shifting membership.
In the 1999 presidential and parliamentary elections, SWAPO continued its history of political dominance, taking 55 of the 72 Assembly seats, and returning President
In 2019 Hage Geingob won the presidential election and received a second term as president. His percentage of votes gained, however, dropped significantly from 87% in 2014 to 56% in 2019. While rural areas predominantly supported Geingob, many urban centres voted for the independent candidate, Panduleni Itula, who received 29% of the overall votes. No other candidate achieved a two-digit result. SWAPO, yet again, won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, but closely missed the threshold for a two-thirds majority, which it held since 1994. Consequently, opposition parties also gained seats, most prominently the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), which obtained 16 seats in the National Assembly.[7] The PDM's 16.60% vote share is its best electoral performance since the 1994 election.[8] On 4 February 2024, President Hage Geingob died and he was immediately succeeded by vice-president Nangolo Mbumba as new President of Namibia.[9]
2019 presidential election
Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
---|---|---|---|
Hage Geingob | SWAPO | 464,703 | 56.3 |
Panduleni Itula | Independent | 242,657 | 29.4 |
McHenry Venaani | Popular Democratic Movement | 43,959 | 5.3 |
Bernadus Swartbooi | Landless People's Movement | 22,542 | 2.7 |
Apius Auchab | United Democratic Front | 22,115 | 2.7 |
Esther Muinjangue | National Unity Democratic Organisation | 12,039 | 1.5 |
Tangeni Iiyambo | SWANU | 5,959 | 0.7 |
Henk Mudge | Republican Party | 4,379 | 0.5 |
Mike Kavekotora | Rally for Democracy and Progress | 3,515 | 0.4 |
Ignatius Shixwameni | All People's Party | 3,304 | 0.4 |
Jan Mukwilongo | Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters | 1,026 | 0.1 |
Invalid/blank votes | 0 | – | |
Total | 826,198 | 100 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,358,468 | 60.8 | |
Source: ECN |
2019 parliamentary election
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWAPO | 536,861 | 65.45 | 63 | –14 | |
Popular Democratic Movement | 136,576 | 16.65 | 16 | +11 | |
Landless People's Movement | 38,956 | 4.75 | 4 | New | |
National Unity Democratic Organisation | 16,066 | 1.96 | 2 | 0 | |
All People's Party | 14,664 | 1.79 | 2 | 0 | |
United Democratic Front | 14,644 | 1.79 | 2 | 0 | |
Republican Party | 14,546 | 1.77 | 2 | +1 | |
Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters | 13,580 | 1.66 | 2 | +2 | |
Rally for Democracy and Progress | 8,953 | 1.09 | 1 | –2 | |
Christian Democratic Voice | 5,841 | 0.71 | 1 | +1 | |
SWANU | 5,330 | 0.65 | 1 | 0 | |
Congress of Democrats | 4,645 | 0.57 | 0 | 0 | |
National Democratic Party | 4,559 | 0.56 | 0 | 0 | |
Workers Revolutionary Party | 3,212 | 0.39 | 0 | –2 | |
National Patriotic Front | 1,785 | 0.22 | 0 | New | |
Invalid/blank votes | 0 | – | – | – | |
Total | 820,227 | 100 | 96 | – | |
Registered voters/turnout | 1,358,468 | 60.4 | – | – | |
Source: ECN |
Traditional leadership
Namibian government has so far recognised 51 traditional authorities, and a further 40 applications are pending. These institutions are based on ethnicity and headed by the
Administrative divisions
Namibia is divided into 14 regions: Zambezi, Erongo, Hardap, ǁKaras, Kavango East, Kavango West, Khomas, Kunene, Ohangwena, Omaheke, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, and Otjozondjupa.[11]
International organisation participation
Namibia is member of
References
- ^ Shugart, Matthew Søberg (September 2005). "Semi-Presidential Systems: Dual Executive and Mixed Authority Patterns" (PDF). Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- S2CID 73642272. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
Of the contemporary cases, only four provide the assembly majority an unrestricted right to vote no confidence, and of these, only two allow the president unrestricted authority to appoint the prime minister. These two, Mozambique and Namibia, as well as the Weimar Republic, thus resemble most closely the structure of authority depicted in the right panel of Figure 3, whereby the dual accountability of the cabinet to both the president and the assembly is maximized. (...) Namibia allows the president to dissolve [the assembly] at any time but places a novel negative incentive on his exercise of the right: He must stand for a new election at the same time as the new assembly elections.
- ^ "Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit. 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ Sasman, Catherine (22 March 2013). "Mbumba's presence in Cabinet under spotlight". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013.
- ^ "GRN Structure. The Legislature". Government of Namibia. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
- ISSN 2026-7215.
- ^ Iikela, Sakeus (2 December 2019). "Reduced victory ... Swapo, Geingob drop votes". The Namibian. p. 1.
- ^ "Incumbent Geingob wins Namibia presidential election with 56.3% of the vote". Reuters. 30 November 2019.
- ^ "Hage Geingob death: Namibia's new President Mbumba sworn-in hours after predecessor dies". 4 February 2024.
- ^ Tjitemisa, Kuzeeko (18 November 2016). "Chiefs cost govt millions". New Era. p. 6.
- ^ Nakale, Albertina (9 August 2013). "President divides Kavango into two". New Era. via allafrica.com. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Alt URL