Namibia's ruling party has won a landslide victory in the
parliamentary and presidential election, the country's electoral commission
said Monday.
The ruling SWAPO party won 80 percent of the vote in the
parliamentary election in the southern African country. In the presidential
election, the party's candidate Hage Geingob got 87 percent of votes.
The SWAPO party also won 77 seats in the National Assembly,
leaving only 19 seats to be shared among opposition parties, according to the
Namibian Press Association.
The SWAPO party has ruled Namibia since its independence
from South Africa in 1990. The country, which benefits from major diamond and
uranium reserves, enjoys political stability. Election observers from the
African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community declared
the elections free and fair.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated
Namibia on the elections.
"The extraordinary participation among first-time
voters and women candidates reflects the progress that Namibia has made,"
Kerry said in a statement.
Geingob's closest rival, McHenry Venaani of the Democratic
Turnhalle Alliance, earned five percent of the vote. The Democratic Turnhalle
Alliance, which won 4.8 percent of the parliamentary vote, is the official
opposition with five seats.
Namibians voted on Friday, using electronic voting machines
instead of ballot paper for the first time. The commission said around 72
percent of Namibia's 1.2 million eligible voters participated.
Geingob will be inaugurated on March 21, 2015, along with
the new cabinet.
AP
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