Will Namibia’s Ruling Party Retain Power?

The election has however been marred by significant voting challenges.Reports indicate widespread dissatisfaction with long queues, technical malfunctions with electronic voter identification tablets, and ballot shortages.

Some polling stations opened late, prompting Peter Shaama, the chief electoral officer of Namibia's electoral commission, to issue a directive extending operating hours beyond the planned 9 p.m. cut-off time on Wednesday. Some stations were still operating as late as 5 a.m. on Thursday.

“This arrangement is necessary to enable returning officers to make necessary arrangements with regards to borrowing the ballot papers from polling teams in excess of the ballot papers and to attend to eligible voters already in the queue,”the directive read.

The voting complications have escalated political tensions, whichmany Namibians fear. Opposition parties are now threatening to reject the election results. IPC’s lawyers have sent a letter of demand to electoral commission chair Elsie Nghikembua, accusing the commission of denying voters their constitutional right.

“Kindly be advised that your wrongful and unlawful actions deny registered voters their constitutional right to vote, and you are notified of our client’s intention to take appropriate legal action in a competent forum for appropriate relief, as well as a punitive cost order against you,”the letter read.

McHenry Venaani, leader of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) — Namibia’s most prominent opposition party — went further, alleging that SWAPO is colluding with the ECN and describing ballot shortages as “clear-cut systemic tactics” to suppress voters.

Thirteen other candidates arecontesting the election, including Bernadus Swartbooi of the Landless People’s Movement, and Job Amupanda of the Affirmative Repositioning Party. About 1.4 million of the country’s three million had registered to vote.

Nandi-Ndaitwah, who was heavily involved in Namibia's fight for independence, and is the country's current vice president, voted atan elementary school in the country’s capital, Windhoek. She promised voters that she'll tackle youth unemployment by spending approximately 85 billion Namibian dollars ($4.7 billion) to create 500,000 jobs over the next five years.

Voting results are expected over the weekend, with the potential to reshape Namibia’s political future.