Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday that Namibian Vice President Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah has been elected as the country’s first female president, citing official results released by the country’s electoral commission.
According to the official results on Tuesday, the 72-year-old secured 57 percent of the vote, defying expectations of a possible run-off. After being declared president-elect, Nandi Ndaitwah stated, “The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability.”
Her victory strengthens the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party’s 34-year rule since Namibia’s independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, although Al Jazeera reported that the result remains contested.
According to Al Jazeera, the opposition parties have rejected the election outcome, citing technical issues, including ballot paper shortages and long delays that led to the extension of voting until Saturday. Some voters abandoned the polls after waiting up to 12 hours.
The opposition has criticised the extension as illegal and vowed to challenge the results in court. Panduleni Itula, the main opposition candidate from the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), trailed Nandi Ndaitwah with 25.5 per cent of the vote, Al Jazeera reported, citing the election commission.
He condemned the election as unfair, stating that the rule of law had been violated and labelling the results illegitimate. “The rule of law has been grossly violated, and we cannot call these elections by any means or measure as free, fair, and legitimate,” Itula said on Saturday, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
Nandi Ndaitwah was appointed vice president in February after the death of President Hage Geingob. Although SWAPO has ruled Namibia for decades, it has faced growing discontent, particularly among young voters frustrated by high unemployment and persistent inequality. According to Al Jazeera, Nandi-Ndaitwah began her political career in the 1970s, joining Namibia’s underground independence movement, and returned from the UK to join parliament in 1990. She has held several ministerial positions over the years.
