Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Namibians will vote for a new president on Nov. 27, nine months after Hage Geingob died in office and was temporarily replaced by his Vice President Nangolo Mbumba.
The SWAPO party has governed the southern African country since independence in 1990. Its candidate this time is the current VP, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (pictured above), 72, who could become Namibia’s first female president.
Of the 14 other candidates, her main challenger could be Panduleni Itula, a former ruling party member who won 29% of the vote in 2019. He has campaigned on reducing unemployment — which stood at 19% last year — and fighting corruption.
The IMF projects that Namibia’s real GDP growth will slow to 3.1% this year but increase to 4.2% in 2025. SWAPO is betting that new oil and gas exploration will galvanize public support by boosting Namibia’s growth rate to 8%.
