Windhoek: Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda has declared Namibia’s 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections neither free nor fair, demanding a re-run. Amupanda expressed his concerns shortly after the announcement of the final election results, which saw Swapo’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah becoming Namibia’s fifth president.
According to Namibia Press Agency, Nandi-Ndaitwah secured 638,560 votes, equivalent to 57.31 percent, defeating her closest rival, Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), who garnered 284,106 votes or 25.50 percent. The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) came third with 55,412 votes, translating to 4.97 percent, while Amupanda himself received 19,676 votes, representing 1.77 percent of the total.
Amupanda maintained that the election was marred by corruption and unfair practices, suggesting that taxpayer money was misused. “We will not surrender the ECN to these criminals and will not surrender our country,” he asserted, emphasizing AR’s commitm
ent to contesting the election results.
He further mentioned that AR is actively exploring options to dispute the election outcome, emphasizing that a re-run would be the most favorable course for Namibia. Despite his criticism, Amupanda acknowledged AR’s achievement in securing six seats in the National Assembly, with 72,227 votes in the parliamentary election, and confirmed their intention to occupy these seats if their fight for a rerun is unsuccessful.
Swapo secured a commanding majority with 51 seats after receiving 583,300 votes, while IPC obtained 20 seats with 220,809 votes. ECN chairperson Elsie Nghikembua reported a total of 1,099,582 votes cast, with 14,552 presidential votes (1.3 percent) and 15,898 parliamentary votes (1.4 percent) rejected. The elections, held from 27 to 30 November 2024, included special voting on 13 November for sea personnel and certain security cluster members.