2024 Namibian general election

Hage Geingob had died in office on 4 February 2024 whilst receiving treatment for cancer and was replaced by his vice-president, Nangolo Mbumba. Mbumba announced that he had no intention of running for president, and that he would serve out the remainder of Geingob's term which was to expire on 21 March 2025. In 2019, the ruling SWAPO party received 56% of the vote, down from 87% in 2014. SWAPO, which gained its base fighting against apartheid in 1990, is seemingly losing support among youth voters, who are dissatisfied with low employment rates. The current unemployment rate is around 20%. Prior to the election, online disinformation campaigns targeted various candidates. These campaigns included false allegations of opposition candidate Panduleni Itula being a "British agent"; purported footage of another opposition candidate, Bernadus Swartbooi, making tribalist statements towards Itula; and an artificially-generated image of SWAPO candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah fainting at rallies. Various politicians accused the Zimbabwean ZANU–PF of spreading false information. == Electoral system ==

The President of Namibia is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives more than 50% in the first round of voting, a run-off will be held. No previous presidential votes in Namibia have gone to a second round. The 104 members of the National Assembly consist of 96 elected members and eight (non-voting) members appointed by the president. The 96 elected members are elected by closed list proportional representation from one nationwide constituency. Seats are allocated using the largest remainder method. ==Presidential candidates==

As president Geingob was ineligible for re-election after having served two consecutive terms, he selected deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to run for president as a candidate of his party, the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), of which she was also vice-president, in 2023. Upon Geingob's death, she was appointed vice president by president Mbumba. She became the first female vice-president of Namibia. These included 2019 presidential candidate Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), the main opposition candidate, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani, former deputy minister Bernadus Swartbooi of the Landless People's Movement (LPM), and former Windhoek mayor Job Amupanda of Affirmative Repositioning (AR). ==Conduct==

Voting was marred by logistical and technical problems such as malfunctioning voter identification tablets and insufficient ballot papers, causing long queues and the extension of voting hours by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) until 28 November. The IPC accused the ECN of "deliberately suppressing voters and deliberately trying to frustrate voters from casting their vote". Following complaints from opposition parties, the ECN announced a further extension of voting hours for 29 and 30 November at 36 selected polling locations in Windhoek as well as in the Kunene, Oshana and Oshikoto regions. Representatives of the IPC, PDM and AR expressed dissatisfaction with the limited selection of polling locations for the voting extension. Legal experts and the IPC have called into question the legality of the voting extension. African Union (AU) election observers criticised the ECN's decision to extend voting for causing confusion. The IPC accused the ECN of "deliberately trying to dissuade voters from voting". The AU observer mission gave the ECN a transparency score of just 50%. and announced plans to file legal challenges. A preliminary investigation by the AU carried out on 29 November did not find evidence of election misconduct. On 3 December, the ECN declared Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah the winner of the election. == Results ==

President National Assembly {{Election results By constituency ==Aftermath==

On 3 December 2024, Nandi-Ndaitwah was declared the victor with 57% of the vote, She became the first woman to be elected as president of Namibia Panduleni Itula, the second-place candidate, declared that there was a "multitude of irregularities" and would "fight... to nullify the elections through the processes that are established within our electoral process." Itula criticized the opening of only selective polling stations, which may have prevented thousands of voters from casting their vote. On 13 December, the Namibian electoral court ordered the ECN to allow the IPC and the LPM to obtain access to electoral data as part of their electoral protest. On 28 February 2025, the Supreme Court of Namibia ruled that the voting extension was valid and rejected the IPC's protest. == References ==