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Namibia: Namibia Government Profile

2015/01/24

President-elect: Hage Geingob
 
 
 
 
Hage Geingob was voted in as president in the November 2014 elections while serving as prime minister.
It was Africa's initial electronic ballot, in which voters made their choice using e-voting machines at the 4,000 polling stations across the country.
He succeeds Hifikepunye Pohamba, who steps down at the end of the two terms allowed by the constitution.
 
Dr Geingob, who was born in 1941, became prime minister at the same time as Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990 and served in that position until 2002.
 
He became prime minister again in 2012, having served for a spell as minister of trade and industry.
In 2007 he was chosen as vice-president of the ruling party and former liberation movement - South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) - which has been in power since independence.
 
He spent several years abroad promoting the idea of independence for what was again known as South West Africa.  Following UN-supervised elections in the run-up to independence, he chaired the constituent assembly which drafted the constitution which came into result with Namibian independence.
 
His doctoral thesis at the University of Leeds, in Britain, was titled "National Formation in Namibia: Promoting Democracy and Good Governance". He gained his PhD in 2004.
 

The president, who shares executive power with the cabinet, is limited to two five-year terms.


Namibian President Pohamba Mr Pohamba was a founding member of the rebel movement which fought for independence
Hifikepunye Pohamba, a founding member of the rebel movement which fought for his country's independence, won presidential elections in 2004 and again in November 2009.
 
Though once viewed as a stooge for Namibia's liberation leader Sam Nujoma, President Pohamba has slowly cemented his own authority and built a reputation as a soft-spoken consensus builder. At the same time as Pohamba initial ran for president in 2004, Mr Nujoma was still seen as the power behind the throne, with a firm grip over the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO).
 
But Mr Nujoma has since officially retired from politics, with Pohamba taking the helm of SWAPO, the former liberation movement that fought a decades-long campaign against apartheid South Africa until independence in 1990.
 
SWAPO has been in power pretty much unchallenged since independence, usually gaining overwhelming majorities in elections.
In the 2009 polls, African observer missions declared the exercise transparent, peaceful and equitable. Local observers and opposition parties criticised delays in vote counting and releasing results, and alleged voting and counting irregularities.\
 
In the run-up to polls due to be held in 2014, opposition parties were reported to be struggling to attract enough funding to run campaigns.
Born in 1935, Hifikepunye Pohamba went into exile in the 1960s and later studied in the Soviet Union.
He was independent Namibia's initial home minister and again held the fisheries and land portfolio before being elected president in 2004.
 
The Republic of Namibia's modern constitution, adopted on independence in 1990, was hailed as one of the world's most democratic. Its entrenched Bill of Rights provides for freedom of speech, press, assembly, association and religion. It as well set up a bicameral Westminster-style parliament, with a strong executive and independent judiciary.
 
General elections for the initial Home of Parliament, the National Assembly, are held each five years. The members of the second Home of Parliament, the National Council, are drawn from 13 Regional Councils, which are elected each six years. The constitution limits the president to a maximum of two terms of office.
 
Namibia has enjoyed political stability since independence in 1990. The 2009 elections were the fifth presidential and National Assembly polls since the country’s initial elections in 1989 and featured a new party, the Rally for Democracy and Evolution (RDP) which was set up in 2007 by former SWAPO members. The RDP gained early momentum and was seen as a threat to SWAPO but in the event, the new party made little headway. In the presidential poll, SWAPO leader Hifikepunye Pohamba won 75.25% of the vote while the RDP’s Hidipo Hamutenya got 10.91%. In the national assembly elections, SWAPO lost just 1 seat to retain a two-thirds majority while the RDP won 8 seats. Regional and local authority elections are scheduled for 2010;
Government type: 

republic

Administrative divisions: 

13 regions; Caprivi, Erongo, Hardap, Karas, Khomas, Kunene, Ohangwena, Okavango, Omaheke, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa

Independence: 

21 March 1990 (from South African mandate)

National holiday: 

Independence Day, 21 March (1990)

Constitution: 

ratified 9 February 1990, effective 12 March 1990

Legal system: 

based on Roman-Dutch law and 1990 constitution; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 

18 years of age; universal

Legislative branch: 

bicameral legislature consists of the National Council, primarily an advisory body, (26 seats; two members chosen from each regional council to serve six-year terms) and the National Assembly (72 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: National Council - elections for regional councils to determine members of the National Council held on 29-30 November 2004 (next to be held in November 2010); National Assembly - last held on 26-27 November 2009 (next to be held in November 2014) election results: National Council - percent of vote by party - SWAPO 89.7%, UDF 4.7%, NUDO 2.8%, DTA 1.9%, other 0.9%; seats by party - SWAPO 24, UDF 1, DTA 1; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - SWAPO 75.3%, RDP 11.3% DTA 3.1%, NUDO 3.0%, UDF 2.4%, APP 1.4%, RP 0.8%, COD 0.7%, SWANU 0.6%, other 1.3%; seats by party - SWAPO 54, RDP 8 DTA 2, NUDO 2, UDF 2, APP 1 RP 1, COD 1, SWANU 1

Judicial branch: 

Supreme Court (judges appointed by the president on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission)

Political parties and leaders : 

All People's Party or APP [Ignatius SHIXWAMENI]; Congress of Democrats or COD [Benjamin ULENGA]; Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia or DTA [Katuutire KAURA]; Monitor Action Group or MAG [Jurie VILJOEN]; National Democratic Movement for Change or NamDMC; National Unity Democratic Organization or NUDO [Kuaima RIRUAKO]; Rally for Democracy and Progress or RDP [Hidipo HAMUTENYA]; Republican Party or RP [Hendrick MUDGE]; South West Africa National Union or SWANU [Usutuaije MAAMBERUA]; South West Africa People's Organization or SWAPO [Hifikepunye POHAMBA]; United Democratic Front or UDF [Justus GAROEB]

Political pressure groups and leaders: 

Earthlife Namibia [Berthchen KOHRS] (environmentalist group); National Society for Human Rights or NSHR; The World Information Services of Energy or WISE (group against nuclear power)

International organization participation: 

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Flag description: 

a wide red stripe edged by narrow white stripes divides the flag diagonally from lower hoist corner to upper fly corner; the upper hoist-side triangle is blue and charged with a yellow, 12-rayed sunburst; the lower fly-side triangle is green

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