Namibia ruling party set to win major victory
Xinhua.
Namibia. Namibia’s ruling Swapo party is far ahead in recent polls, leading a crowded field of a fragmented opposition front comprising several parties in results announced so far for the 2009 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
A Xinhua correspondent reported from Katima Mulilo, the regional capital of the far northeastern Caprivi Region located 1 300km from Windhoek, the administrative and commercial capital of Namibia, which is a vast but sparsely populated country.
Election results tallied so far indicated that incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba and Swapo, the party he heads, have scored 54 percent in the results released so far, winning in even in areas previously perceived as opposition strongholds.
At the Omuntele constituency in the copper-rich Oshikoto Region, electoral officials said 25 of the votes that were cast were declared as spoilt ballots for National Assembly elections, in which Swapo won with a wide margin of 6,550 votes, compared with its main rival the Rally for Democracy and Development, which only received a paltry 68 votes.
Among other opposition parties contesting for the 72 seats that are now unoccupied in the National Assembly, the All People’s Party only got six votes, the Democratic Turhalle Alliance secured three votes and the Republican Party won nine.
The National Unity Democratic Organization of Namibia and the Congress of Democrats each collected five votes.
The Namibia Democratic Movement failed to secure even a single vote. The Democratic Party of Namibia took one vote.
Results for the presidential election indicated that Pohamba received a massive 6,665 votes, compared with his closest rival Hidipo Hamutenya of the RDP, who only managed a distant 60 votes. Ignatius Shixwameni of the All People’s Party received seven votes.
There were 31 rejected ballot papers, electoral officials said.
Other presidential contenders include Katuutire Kaura of the DTA who got zero, Chief Kuaima Riruako of NUDO with at least 15 votes from Omuntele, Ferdinand Mudge of the Republican Party with 14 votes, Usutuaije Maamberua of the South West Africa National Union (SWANU) with four votes from Omuntele.
The Omuntele constituesncy located in Oshikoto Region has 58,266registered voters, It covers an area of 26, 607 square km with a population of 128,745.
Namibia boasts of resources of diamonds, gold, uranium, copper and huge gas reserves, with a lengthy coastal line that has one of the highest yields of sea fish in the world. The country holds presidential and parliamentary elections every five years. — Xinhua.
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