Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob and his party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), won a landslide victory in presidential and legislative elections billed as Africa’s first e-vote, the electoral commission said Monday.Geingob (73) who ran on a platform of “peace, stability and prosperity”, becomes president-elect of the vast desert nation in southwest Africa with a massive haul of 87% of the vote.“It’s the will of God that the people of Namibia came out in big numbers and thought that I should take over,” he said.
“I have a heavy responsibility that I cannot do only on my own. I will be a president of all Namibians. No Namibians will be left out.” In the race for the legislature, Swapo took 80% of the vote, winning 78 of the 96 seats in the national assembly.Becoming the strongest opposition party in Parliament, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance won five seats, with 4.8% of the vote.The former main opposition, the Rally for Progress and Democracy, saw its percentage of the vote cut from 11% in the last election in 2009 to 3.15%, winning just three seats.
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Forged in the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle, Swapo has won every election since Namibia’s independence in 1990. Already an overpowering force in Namibian politics, the party managed to improve on the 2009 elections, when it received 75% of the vote.Outgoing President Hifikepunye Pohamba said: “The people have spoken. Democracy is alive. I urge all our people to respect and honour the voice of the people.”
