Namibia’s First Female President Breaks Glass Ceiling
Namibia’s first female president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, said her victory in a disputed vote last week cracked a “glass ceiling” on Thursday.
The vice president received just over 57% of the vote, far ahead of the main opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) candidate, who received 25.5 percent, the electoral authorities revealed on Tuesday.
However, the IPC has stated that it does not acknowledge the vote, citing a “number of irregularities.”
“As a woman, I’m the first to admit that my election to the highest office in the land is definitely one that is breaking the glass ceiling for a Namibian woman,” she told reporters at her first press conference since her victory was announced.
Namibia’s first female president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, said her victory in a disputed vote last week cracked a “glass ceiling” on Thursday.
The vice president received just over 57% of the vote, far ahead of the main opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) candidate, who received 25.5 percent, the electoral authorities revealed on Tuesday.
However, the IPC has stated that it does not acknowledge the vote, citing a “number of irregularities.”
“As a woman, I’m the first to admit that my election to the highest office in the land is definitely one that is breaking the glass ceiling for a Namibian woman,” she told reporters at her first press conference since her victory was announced.
She has taken a strict stance on abortion, which is banned in the country except in exceptional circumstances, and has not championed women’s rights.
Appearing without her traditional “doek” head wrap, Nandi-Ndaitwah on Thursday stressed that her victory gave her and her SWAPO party the “constitutional and moral legitimacy to govern”.
But the November 27 election, which was extended until November 30, was marked by logistical and technical issues, including a shortage of ballot papers that led to long queues. Some voters gave up on the first day of voting after waiting for up to 12 hours.
The opposition outfit IPC said these were a deliberate attempt to frustrate voters and that it would not accept the results.
Radical shift’
Nandi-Ndaitwah on Thursday promised drastic change.
“It’s not going to be business as usual. We must have a radical shift in addressing the plight of our people, especially the downtrodden and the vulnerable communities,” said the president-elect, who is due to take oath on March 21, 2025.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, who has been in government in 2000, refused to blame the electoral commission when asked about its management of the vote, saying the authority had brought the process to a conclusion.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia admitted to failures in the organisation of the vote, including a shortage of ballot papers and the overheating of electronic tablets used to register voters.
Of the nearly 1.5 million registered voters in the sparsely populated country, nearly 77 percent had cast ballots in the presidential vote, it said Tuesday.
However, while turnout was higher than in the previous presidential election, it was also more unequal.
In the northern regions of Ohangwena and Omusati, ancient SWAPO strongholds where NNN performed best with nearly 80 and 83 percent of the vote, voter turnout was 91 and 92 percent, significantly higher than the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, in the densely populated Khomas area, which includes Namibia’s capital Windhoek and has had numerous election failures, only 67 percent of registered voters cast ballots.
AFP
