SWAPO Victorious

Tough luck for those who have lost
Voters give SWAPO overwhelming mandate

By Asser Ntinda

Namibians across the country have renewed SWAPO Party’s mandate to run and rule the country for the next five years, crushing the hopes of hopeful opposition parties which have made a lot of noise about reducing SWAPO Party’s two-thirds majority and taking over the government.

“We have shamed them,” said one SWAPO Party Central Committee member. “You can’t defect from SWAPO Party and hope to enjoy. When one leaves SWAPO Party, one turns one’s back against the people. Let them suffer. Their project has crushed.”

People across the country are organizing and planning to have victory parades. Several business men and women in Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana and Oshikoto regions have offered hundreds of cattle to be slaughtered for the celebrations.

“These elections were peaceful, fair and transparent,” said one businessman. “There will be a lot of celebrations here. We are happy we have defeated RADOPA. They should never try again. They have been making a lot of noise and provoking us. We have spoken through the ballot.”

Local and international observers have endorsed this year’s Presidential and National Assembly elections as free and fair, with sources in the European Union saying that these were some of the best and well organized elections they have ever seen in Africa.

“Nothing is perfect,” said one source. “There were hiccups here and there that needed to be ironed out promptly. But overall, everything went well. We have observed many elections in Africa and elsewhere in the world, but never have we seen the orderly manner in which Namibians have conducted themselves during and after the elections.

“That degree of maturity should be something Namibians have to teach the rest of the continent. I am damn serious about this because if we do not spread this gospel around Africa and the world beyond, we will fail in our duties to spread the gospel of democracy.

“I arrived here a week before the elections. Wherever we moved, we could see people putting on their party colours, campaigning and expanding on their party’s election manifestos. What amazes me most is the disappearance of party colours when people went to vote. Nobody appeared in party colours at polling sations.

“That is very unusual and rare anywhere in the world. You people have taught us many lessons. You have conducted yourself very fairly well. There were virtually no serious incidences of violence, only emotional clashes which were kept at bay. Conducting and ending an election without any death is very rare. Pride yourself as Namibians in that regard. We have seen the worst in the world. Keep it up.”

While the final results are not yet out, indications are that SWAPO Party will not only retain its two-thirds majority but will add to the seats it currently has in the National Assembly. SWAPO Party has 55 seats in the National Assembly. It only needs 48 seats to retain its two-thirds majority. “We have done a lot,” said SWAPO Party Youth League Secretary, Cde Elijah Ngurare. “We will have more seats in the National Assembly than before. Our message during the campaign was very clear.

“We did not campaign to retain our current seats in the National Assembly. We campaigned to increase our seats. That is what we have done. The Rally for Democracy and Progress, RDP, did not campaign to be the official opposition. It campaigned to take over the government. On that score, we have shamed them.”

“We have slaughtered them politically. That is the beginning of the end of RDP, whose main reason for existence was to take over the government from SWAPO Party. That will never happen. RDP will disappear in the same way the Congress of Democrats, CoD, had gone.”

Swakopmund handed SWAPO Party a cool 10722 lead, with RDP trailing behind with 3073 votes. In 2004, SWAPO Party won in that area with 9525 votes, while CoD won with 2027 votes the same year. In the current elections, CoD just got 137 votes, down from 2027 in 2004.

“You should note that SWAPO Party has increased its support in that area,” said one newspaper editor. “SWAPO has not lost. The biggest casualty in this case is CoD. RDP only snatched votes from CoD. RDP can only claim victory over CoD, not over SWAPO Party.”

“You should remember that there is a big German community in Swakopmund, which in the main never voted for SWAPO Party. Former Agriculture Minister, Anton Von Wietesheim, who is a top RDP leader, might have been instrumental in converting the German community from CoD. That is the context in which you should look at it.”

In Ohangwena Region, RDP, suffered a stunning defeat. It has performed poorly in areas it has claimed to have a strong following. At Eenhana, RDP got 566 votes, while SWAPO Party got 7475. At Ongenga, SWAPO Party got 8144, while RDP got a mere 603.

ECN officials are hard at work to ensure that the final complete results are out by today, Friday. The SWAPO Party leadership is preparing a victory parade this weekend in Windhoek.