Namibia Votes As Ruling SWAPO Party Faces Unprecedented Challenge

Riyaz Patel

Namibians have voted in what was is shaping up to be the toughest challenge yet for the governing SWAPO party that has ruled for three decades since independence.

President Hage Geingob, Namibia’s third leader since the sparsely populated freed itself from the shackles of apartheid South Africa in 1990, is seeking a second and final term from 1.3 million registered voters.

Geingob’s ruling SWAPO party has successfully tackled some of the problems left after decades of neglectful rule, first by Germany and then by white minority South African administrations.

SWAPO is now contending with an economy in recession for nearly three years, one of Namibia’s worst droughts and its biggest graft scandal – all of which have conspired to make this vote unexpectedly