By Nellie Peyton
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Namibians are set to vote for a new president and parliament on Nov. 27, after Hage Geingob died and was replaced as president on a interim basis by his deputy, Nangolo Mbumba.
The election could mark a historic shift in the country’s political landscape if the ruling SWAPO party, in power since independence in 1990, loses control of the presidency or parliament for the first time.
The president is directly elected by voters and needs to garner more than 50% of votes to win. Support for SWAPO dropped from 87% in the presidential election in 2014 to 56% in 2019.
Here are the main candidates running for president:
NETUMBO NANDI-NDAITWAH
Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, is also vice president of SWAPO and the party’s first female presidential candidate.
She joined SWAPO in the 1960s when the party fought for Namibia’s independence from apartheid South Africa. She served as SWAPO’s representative in central and eastern Africa after going into exile along with numerous party leaders.
After studying diplomacy in England, she returned to Namibia and has held various senior roles in SWAPO and government, including serving as a minister in portfolios of international relations, environment, and women’s affairs and child welfare.
PANDULENI ITULA
Panduleni Itula is a 67-year-old politician who secured 29% of the presidential vote as an independent candidate in 2019 — the best any challenger has done against SWAPO.
He has since formed a new political party, the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), which champions grassroots participatory democracy and anti-corruption. IPC also plans to contest parliamentary seats.
Itula was a SWAPO party youth leader during the fight for independence and was imprisoned by the apartheid regime. Post-release, he moved to England where he studied and practised as a dentist for over three decades before returning to Namibia in 2013.
MCHENRY VENAANI
McHenry Venaani is leader of Namibia’s largest opposition party in parliament, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), which holds 16 out of 96 elected seats.
Venaani, 47, studied law and became the country’s youngest member of parliament in 2003.
Despite the PDM strengthening its parliamentary presence in the 2019 election, Venaani came a distant third in the presidential race with only 5% of votes.
BERNADUS SWARTBOOI
Bernadus Swartbooi, 47, is the leader of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), a progressive party advocating for land redistribution and restorative justice.
Swartbooi founded the LPM in 2017 after losing his job as deputy minister of land reform and leaving SWAPO.
LPM has four seats in parliament. Swartbooi won 3% of votes in the 2019 presidential election.
JOB AMUPANDA
Job Amupanda, 37, is a former SWAPO youth leader who fell out with the party and founded a leftist political movement called Affirmative Repositioning in 2014.
Like the LPM, the party focuses on land reform and redistribution of foreign-owned land.
Amupanda served as mayor of the capital, Windhoek, in 2021. He is also an associate professor of political science at the University of Namibia.
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Additional reporting by Nyasha Nyaungwa; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Alison Williams)
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