2014 Namibian general election

Presidential election

Candidates

Originally, incumbent President Pohamba predicted that twenty-two candidates would contest the presidential election. In the end, only nine political parties submitted presidential candidates.

SWAPO

In 2008, the SWAPO Central Committee produced a policy document stating that the party's candidate would be chosen for each election among the top four Committee members. In March 2011 SWAPO declared that whoever was the party's vice-president following the forthcoming party elections would also be the party's candidate in 2014 for president. Some high-level party members, particularly Kazenambo Kazenambo, advocated that SWAPO choose a non-Ovambo candidate, as the first two Presidents, Sam Nujoma and Pohamba, were from the Ovambo people. Others advocated the selection of a woman. SWAPO indicated that the candidate would be chosen democratically in the 2012 party election.

SWAPO was viewed as the clear favorite going into the election.

Parliamentary election

SWAPO announced a gender equality system where women would fill half of their seats in parliament. The party also embraced what it called a "zebra system", whereby if a minister was a woman, the deputy minister would be a man, and vice versa. Because there were more male SWAPO MPs than female MPs, SWAPO put forward plans to expand parliament to remove the risk of male MPs losing their seats as a result of this gender policy. These changes to the constitution were approved a month prior to the election against the votes of opposition parties, as SWAPO had a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Since then, instead of 78 seats (72 elected, 6 appointed) there 104 seats in the National Assembly (96 elected, 8 appointed).

Results

President

National Assembly

References

References

1. (15 November 2014). "Namibia to be Africa's first to use e-voting". bdlive.co.za.
2. Wendell Roelf, [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-namibia-election-idUSKCN0JC1CB20141128 "Namibia's ruling party seen winning Africa's first electronic vote"], Reuters, 28 November 2014.
3. (30 December 2014). "Publication of results and particulars in respect of general election for election of members of National Assembly: Electoral Act, 2014". [[Government of Namibia]].
4. (21 March 2014). "22 Presidential candidates for Namibian election".
5. "Presidential Candidates: 2014 Elections". Electoral Commission of Namibia.
6. {{usurped. New Era]]'', 14 March 2011
7. [https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/08/namibia-gender-equality-zebra-politics Namibia's 'zebra' politics could make it stand out from the global herd] The Guardian, 8 July 2014
8. Iileka, Sakeus. (11 November 2019). "Parties aim to break Swapo dominance". [[The Namibian]].
9. (2018). "Women and political participation in Namibia and Nigeria: a comparative analysis of women in elective positions". [[University of Namibia]].