Namibia’s electoral body announces final list of candidates for November elections

WINDHOEK, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) on Thursday announced the final list of candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections, scheduled for Nov. 27.
After the nomination process that closed Thursday, 15 candidates were confirmed for the presidential race, while 21 political parties would compete for seats in the National Assembly, the commission said in a statement.
According to the ECN, the confirmed candidates for the presidential election include major political figures such as Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), Bernadus Swartbooi of the Landless People’s Movement, and Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots for Change.
Meanwhile, the nominations of three presidential candidates, namely Ally Angula, Else Ndapandula Chen, and Jeremia Kaambo, were rejected, as they failed to secure the required number of voter signatures from across the regions, as outlined in the Electoral Act.
In the National Assembly elections, 21 parties will be represented, including the Action Democratic Movement, Popular Democratic Movement, SWAPO, and the United Democratic Front.
Since Namibia’s independence in 1990, SWAPO has been the governing party in the southwest African nation.
In the last elections held in 2019, the late President Hage Geingob and his party SWAPO won the elections as the party received more than 56 percent of the votes for the national assembly. ■