Is it a boy or a girl?

The presidential and National Assembly elections have turned into a two-horse race between Swapo’s vice president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, and Panduleni Itula from the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC).

According to results counted at various polling stations by 18h00 yesterday, Nandi-Ndaitwah garnered 49 740 votes against Itula’s 25 023.

A total of 101 150 votes were counted.

Nandi-Ndaitwah received more votes in the Kavango East, Zambezi and Ohangwena regions, while Itula outperformed her at the Arandis, Walvis Bay Urban and Walvis Bay Rural constituencies in the Erongo region.

The Erongo region is the IPC’s stronghold.

The disputed preliminary results have also drawn allegations of external interference, with some opposition parties claiming that the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), Zimbabwe’s ruling party, is meddling in Namibia’s elections to bolster Swapo’s chances.

Opposition parties are disputing the preliminary results and have collectively asked the Electoral Commision of Namibia (ECN) to stop the counting process.

“The political parties present here have all agreed that we are going to demand the ECN to desist with the counting of votes and to stop the current voting process,” IPC general secretary Christine !Aochamus said yesterday at the ECN’s headquarters in Windhoek.

The National Assembly contest shows that Swapo and the IPC are in the lead, with Swapo at 46% and the IPC with 24% of the counted 101 150 votes.

The fight for third place is intensifying between the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and new entrant Affirmative Repositioning (AR).

According to the preliminary results, the PDM is on course to lose its official opposition party tag.

The party, which currently has 16 seats in the National Assembly, is being outperformed by new kid on the block IPC, and in some areas by the LPM, which got four seats in the 2019 elections.

According to Namvotes website, out of the 100 000 votes counted by 18h00 yesterday, the PDM would have five seats in the National Assembly, compared to the LPM’s eight and the IPC’s 20 seats.

These numbers are, however, expected to decrease or increase as more votes are counted.

PDM leader McHenry Venaani yesterday said there has been clear voter suppression and an election crisis caused by an “incompetent ECN”.

“The ECN has failed miserably. The chief referenda officer must resign. He is incompetent,” he said.

The AR, which did well in the special voting exercise, is struggling, according to preliminary results.

According to preliminary results, the party has not won a single polling centre.

The preliminary results, however, show that the AR was neck and neck with the PDM at five seats each by the time 100 000 votes were counted yesterday.

Its presidential candidate Job Amupanda is lagging behind in sixth position after 100 000 votes were counted.

Amupanda yesterday said the ECN has “sunk” the elections.

“At 01h48, what is the purpose of granting a directive to keep voting stations open when voters have already left? For those who remained, either the ballots were still not there, or the ballot boxes were full with presiding officers saying they can’t proceed with voting,” he said.

He said at some voting stations, the electricity went off after 21h00.

“At some stations where counting started, two different results of the National Assembly votes were produced. This has not happened in 34 years. When liberation movements start losing power, they start manufacturing chaos to survive,” he said.

Yesterday, ugly scenes unfolded at the ECN’s headquarters, where opposition party officials clashed with Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa and ECN officials.

An exchange between Shaningwa and Imms Nashinge of the IPC erupted.

“Fkkn nonsense,” Shaningwa yesterday said when confronted.

Heated arguments erupted over alleged irregularities. Opposition parties were angry at the ECN, because Shaningwa was sitting in the lobby of the chief electoral officer Petrus Shaama’s office, while the remaining party representatives were restricted to the ground floor.

When asked to provide an update, Shaama slammed a door in the face of The Namibian’s reporter.

The ECN yesterday extended an invitation to political parties to meet at its headquarters at 12h00, but two hours later this meeting still did not take place.

“We are not getting any feedback from the ECN,” IPC general secretary Christine !Aochamus said.

“As I am addressing the media now at 13h40, the ECN has not spoken to us. We regard this as disrespectful, unprofessional and unethical.”

AR leader Job Amupanda yesterday suggested a protest.

“. . . to protect the rights to vote of our people who were not allowed to vote by the incompetent ECN-PF that is working hand in hand with Swapo-PF. This is not a free and fair election. Do we have any other choice? It doesn’t appear so. Lets fight!” he wrote on social media.

Political analyst Rui Tyitende says the results suggest that Swapo remains a dominant force in Namibia.

“Endless delays led to many people vacating the polling stations as it took about 14 hours to vote in some areas,” he says.

Former prime minister Nahas Angula yesterday said any one or party that will be declared as the main winner of Wednesday’s election should know that Namibia emerges from this election as a loser, adding that the ECN has failed the Namibian people.

“I was trying to contact some people in the government to say something must be done to extend this voting. Then the ballot paper issue came up, and everything is spoiled, so Namibia is a loser and our reputation is down,” he said.

He then appealed to political parties to keep calm and demand a commission of inquiry on what happened.

“They should not start quarreling among themselves, or blame each other,” he said.

Republican Party president Henk Mudge yesterday said: “We declare that we will not accept the results . . . we will work together with the other opposition parties to have this declared null and void.”

However, ECN chief electoral and referenda officer Peter Shaama in a statement on Wednesday said the ECN had printed a sufficient number of ballot papers.

Analysts have noted similarities between the contested processes in Zimbabwe’s recent elections and concerns raised about Namibia’s ongoing vote counting, fuelling suspicions of regional political influence.