Voters provide few but some surprises

WITH the first election results starting to emerge from large constituencies yesterday, it seems the Rally for Democracy and Progress has not been able to wrest large numbers of voters from Swapo.

There had been some speculation that the RDP might eat into Swapo support in the Kavango Region, but results from Kahenge and Mukwe indicate otherwise.Swapo made a clean sweep in the two constituencies by taking 83 per cent (down from 91 per cent in 2004) of the vote in the Kahenge constituency, which according to the 2004 election results had the highest voter turnout in the Kavango Region.In results announced yesterday, the ruling party took 8 260 of the 9 864 votes cast in the constituency last week.The ruling party also garnered 70 per cent of the vote (just up from 68 in 2004) in the Mukwe constituency, taking 6 141 of 8 685 votes, leaving the rest to the other contesting parties.Mukwe had the third highest voter turnout in the Kavango Region in the 2004 elections, after the Kahenge and Rundu Rural West constituencies.Both Kahenge and Mukwe, however, recorded a lower voter turnout compared to the 2004 elections.The total voter turnout in Kahenge in 2004 was 12 582 compared to 9 864 this year, while 8 685 Mukwe residents turned up at the polls this year compared to 11 083 in 2004.Buoyed by the big victories in those two constituencies in the Kavango as well as some major performances in its heartland such as Onyaanya, Omuntele, Kabbe and Elim, the ruling party was well on its route to victory although it was still not clear whether it would keep its two-thirds majority. From official results available from the Electoral Commission of Namibia by yesterday afternoon, the RDP put up an ordinary showing in some constituencies of Omusati, Oshana and Oshikoto.In Elim (Omusati), Swapo collected 5 210 votes against the RDP’s 84.At Onyaanya (Oshikoto Region), the birthplace of Prime Minister Nahas Angula, Swapo made a clean sweep with 8 589 votes while the RDP followed at a distant 185.The new kid on the block (RDP) was also expected to put up a good challenge against Swapo in the Caprivi Region. However, the result from Kabbe saw Swapo score 3 024 against the RDP’s 234.Swapo also dominated in the Katima Urban constituency, collecting 5 142 votes, with the RDP coming in second with 1 497. Thus the RDP took around 21 per cent of the vote in the Katima Mulilo Urban constituency while Swapo got 71, 4 per cent, leaving around seven per cent to the other 12 contestants.The Congress of Democrats (CoD), which scored 1 105 in Katima Urban in 2004, was totally decimated, receiving only 79 votes this year – a trend that has been seen in all confirmed results announced by ECN so far.In Kabbe constituency, the CoD was the second highest with 90 votes after Swapo’s 3 812 in the 2004 National Assembly election. In this election, it managed a meagre 16, while the RDP got 234 votes.Another first-timer in the election, the All Peoples’ Party (APP), has been doing well in the Kavango Region, coming in second after Swapo in two constituencies, namely Kapako and Kahenge, with the DTA taking second spot in Mukwe.The APP was expected to perform well in Kavango but needs to score higher to have any hope of a seat in the National Assembly.If there was a 80 per cent or above voter turnout, political parties will need more than 11 000 votes per seat and although the APP, National Unity Democratic Organisation and the United Democratic Front can put up a good fight in their constituencies, they need to score bigger to get seats.The ruling party dominated at Omuntele in the Oshikoto Region with 6 550 votes while the RDP came second with 68.However, Swapo bigwigs must have sat up in their armchairs after hearing that the party crashed to defeat in the Rehoboth Urban West (Hardap) constituency.While the RDP collected 886 votes there, the ruling party managed only 534 in a constituency they had dominated over the past few years.During the 2004 elections Swapo had 1 396 votes in Rehoboth Urban West but party infighting along tribal lines have contributed to some opting to vote differently.Results released so far point towards a diminishing DTA representation.The once main opposition remains in the shadow of yet another newcomer, the RDP, after it did the same in the 1999 and 2004 to the Congress of Democrats.Five years ago when results from the 21 constituencies and foreign missions were totalled, the CoD had 11 377 votes while the DTA had 8 840. Yesterday the results were 1 040 for the CoD and 5 279 for the DTA.It is too early to know whether the two parties have reached their sell-by date but they seem to have crashed heavily, especially under the RDP.The official results have also shown that many of the smaller parties have fallen off the political bandwagon.Of the results counted so far, the Communist Party has 166 votes, Democratic Party of Namibia 575, Monitor Action Group 676, Namibia Democratic Movement for Change 374, National Democratic Party 200 and Swanu 835 votes.The Republican Party had garnered 1 300 votes by yesterday as against the 12 181 in 2004.Swapo’s total yesterday stood at 75 423 against the 77 108 of five years ago while UDF saw a drop to 7 826 from 9 632.The long wait for the final results could be over today, if cellphone short messages sent out by Swapo to its subscribers yesterday afternoon are anything to go by. The party announced that all results would be released by the ECN today.