Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, is the current vice president. Her victory will extend SWAPO's 34 years in power since it led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
She received roughly 57% of valid votes in the presidential race, according to a breakdown given by the Electoral Commission of Namibia.
The electoral commission said she had won more than 57% of vote, with her closest rival Panduleni Itula, getting 26% SWAPO is a legacy political party founded in 1960 after South Africa refused a United Nations resolution to withdraw from the trust territory in 1966, SWAPO turned to armed struggle.
Opposition political parties in Namibia bashed the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) after shortages of ballot papers across the country during the voting day.
Some polling stations were also forced to open late throughout the day owing to technical malfunctions and a lack of election materials.
Reports from local media outlets in Namibia stated that hundreds of voters at Aris, south of Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, were informed that they would be able to vote from noon, but were left waiting for hours. The ECN had allegedly run out of ballot papers at another point in the area, causing a knock-on delay at the mobile voting station in Aris.
While SWAPO has clinged on to power, it has surely escaped an arrow shot at legacy parties in Africa. One of the most striking aspect of this year’s elections is that many have resulted in landslide defeats for governments that have previously appeared to have a strong grip on power - including in countries that have never before experienced a change at the top.
In locally, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) that has been in power since the country took independence in 1966 was crushed in October’s general elections by the Umbrellla for Democratic Change. As well as losing power, the BDP went down from holding 38 seats from the previous 57 parliamentary seats to four.
After winning only four seats, the BDP is now one of the smallest parties in Parliament, and faces an uphill battle to remain politically relevant.
There was also a landslide defeat for the governing party in Mauritius in November, where the Alliance Lepep coalition, headed by Pravind Jagnauth of the Militant Socialist Movement, won only 27% of the vote and was reduced to just two seats in parliament.
With the opposition Alliance du Changement sweeping 60 of the 66 seats available, Mauritius has experienced the most historic election results.
In other parts of Africa, Senegal and the self-declared republic of Somaliland also saw opposition victories. In the case of Senegal, the political turnaround was just as striking as in Botswana, albeit in a different way. Just weeks ahead of the election, the main opposition leaders Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko were languishing in jail as the government of President Macky Sall abused its power in a desperate bid to avert defeat.
After growing domestic and international pressure led to Faye and Sonko being released, Faye went on to win the presidency in the first round of voting, with the government’s candidate winning only 36% of the vote. South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) failed to retain power leading to the formation og a goverment of national unity with other opposition parties.
The situation forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to enter into a coalition government, giving up 12 cabinet posts to other parties, including powerful positions such as Home Affairs.
As a result, a region that is known more for governments that manage to hold on to power for decades has seen 12 months of vibrant, intensely contested, multiparty politics.
The only exceptions to this have been countries where elections were seen as neither free nor fair, such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique which has since been embroiled in political unrest.
The perception that governments were mishandling the economy was a major reason for the change in political tides particularly important because many people experienced a tough year financially. High food and fuel prices have increased the cost of living for millions of citizens, increasing their frustration with the status quo.
In addition to underpinning some of the government defeats this year, economic anger was the main driving force that triggered the youth-led protests in Kenya that rocked President William Ruto’s government in July and August.
