hage geingob

Namibia's ruling party SWAPO has been in power for 24 years and is widely tipped to win Friday's legislative and presidential elections. However support for the party at grassroots level is decreasing.

For Henning Melber, a German-Namibian political science professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, the parliamentary and presidential elections being held on Friday (28.11.2014) will bring no surprises. Melber has been following Namibian political developments for years. For him it is clear that the ruling party SWAPO (South West African People's Organisation) will win with an overwhelming majority and SWAPO's presidential candidate, current prime minister Hage Geingob (73), will prevail in the race against eight other rather weak candidates. The incumbent president Hifikepunye Pohamba, who has already served two terms, is barred by the current constitution from running again. Since independence, SWAPO has won every election with either a two-thirds majority or even 70 percent of the vote.