Youth uncertain about first woman president

South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has been elected as the fifth president of the Republic of Namibia. Nandi-Ndaitwah will be Namibia's first woman president. Her election victory was announced in Windhoek on Tuesday evening by Elsie Nghikembua, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia, after the votes were finished being counted.Once sworn in on 21 March next year, she will be one of only two women presidents in Africa, along with Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan, after Sahle-Work Zewde, the president of Ethiopia, finishes her term at the end of 2024.Swapo loses groundNandi-Ndaitwah won the presidential election with 57.31% of the votes, followed by IPC's Itula with 25.84%, outperforming her party that only scored 53.38% of the votes. This has been a trend in the past elections - despite winning the presidency, Swapo’s number of members in parliament continues to dwindle. The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has declared the final results of the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly election. Swapo won 51 of the 96 seats, compared to 63 seats it won in the last 2019 election. Twelve seats were lost this year. In the 2019 election, Swapo lost 14 seats in the National Assembly.In second place is Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) with 20 seats. IPC was established in 2020 and thus did not participate in the 2019 election.The total valid votes for the presidential ballot cast was 1 099 582 with 14 552 rejected votes according to the ECN, with a turnout of 76.05%, up by nearly 15 percentage points from 2019. The National Assembly valid votes were 1 092 685 with 15 898 rejected votes and a turnout of 75.68%Voters reactionVoters had mixed reactions. Those loyal to Swapo celebrated the historically close victory, while those opposed acknowledged the diminishing power of the incumbent party. My Zone asked young Namibians what their reactions to Namibia’s first female president were in an Instagram post. The reactions varied from excited to unsure, with one user stating, “Let’s go!”. Others were not so keen. Some viewers were not too sure what to make of this occasion. “I feel weird,” one shared. Another user stated that they are scared but could not articulate why. The sentiment that women should not run countries because they are too emotional has been popping up on social media, although it is greatly outnumbered by those celebrating the occasion. This is a new chapter in Namibia's leadership. Many wonder what this could mean for the improvement of women’s lives and the future of women’s leadership in Namibia.

Youth uncertain about first woman president

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Republikein 2025-06-16

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