Namibians began a second and final day of voting on Tuesday to elect a new president and Parliament in a poll widely expected to return the country’s post independence ruling Swapo party to power.
More than 1 160 polling stations across the large southwest African country opened for about 950 000 registered voters on Monday. Computer problems caused delays at some of the polling stations.
Namibian President Sam Nujoma, who will step down after three terms in office, having served as the country’s first post-indepence leader for 14 years, cast his ballot at an office block in Windhoek on Monday.
The 75-year-old will make way for Hifikepunye Pohamba, the Swapo presidential candidate, party co-founder and Namibian lands minister, who is widely predicted to emerge the winner and take office in March.
Pohamba has promised to forge ahead with existing government policies, including land reform on the basis of a ”willing buyer, willing seller” principle with the expropriation of white-owned farms a ”last resort”.
The opposition, composed along ethnic lines among the country’s 11 different language groups, is badly divided and thought unlikely to make any significant gains in the 72-seat Parliament. – Sapa-DPA
Namibia goes to the polls