WINDHOEK, Namibia—Namibia elected its first female leader as Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was declared the winner Dec. 3 of a presidential election last week that was tarnished by technical glitches that caused a three-day extension to allow votes to be cast, and rejected as illegal by opposition parties.
The 72-year-old Nandi-Ndaitwah won with 57 percent of the vote, defying predictions that she might be forced into a runoff.
Her ruling SWAPO party also retained its parliamentary majority, although by a very thin margin, and extended its 34-year hold on power since the southern African country gained independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
Namibia, a sparsely populated country of around three million on the southwestern coast of Africa, has a reputation for being one of the continent’s more stable democracies and the problems around the election have caused consternation.
The vote was marred by shortages of ballot papers and other problems that led election officials to extend voting until Dec. 7. Opposition parties have said the extension is unconstitutional, and some have pledged to join together in a legal appeal to have the election invalidated.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia, which ran the election, rejected opposition calls for a redo of the vote.
It has undermined Nandi-Ndaitwah’s place in history. She is set to become her country’s fifth president since independence and a rare female leader in Africa. She was a member of Namibia’s underground independence movement in the 1970s and received part of her higher education in the then-Soviet Union.
She was promoted to vice president in February after President Hage Geingob died while in office. Nangolo Mbumba, who became president after Geingob’s death, didn’t run in the election. (AP)
