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Namibia Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Namibia
Official Name: Republic of Namibia
Capital: Windhoek
Area: 824,290 square kilometres (318,260 square miles)
Major cities (Population): Windhoek 149,000 (1990)
Population: 1,540,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.6 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic
Independence: 21 March 1990 (from South African mandate)
Constitution: Ratified 9 February 1990; effective 12 March 1990
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
Namibia’s president is the executive and is elected by the people. The president may serve a maximum of two five-year terms. Legislative authority is vested in the National Assembly, a body made up of 72 elected members and up to 6 appointed representatives, and in the National Council, made up of 2 representatives from each of Namibia’s 13 regional councils. There is also an independent judiciary.
Recent History
In 1966 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted to revoke the South African mandate to rule South West Africa, now Namibia, a mandate originally granted by the League of Nations in 1920. The same year that the mandate was revoked, the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO), a national movement which sought liberation from South Africa and an end to racial discrimination, launched guerrilla warfare against South African rule. The UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) both denounced the continuing South African occupation as illegal, and the UN officially redesignated the territory as Namibia. Nevertheless, South Africa maintained control of the territory throughout the 1980s.
After years of warfare and troubled negotiations, Namibia was allowed to hold democratic elections in November 1989 for a constituent assembly that would rewrite the constitution. SWAPO won a majority of the votes in the elections, which were monitored by the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG). In February 1990 the constituent assembly approved a new constitution and became the National Assembly. Independence from South Africa was officially announced on 21 March 1990; SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of the independent republic of Namibia.
Nujoma was re-elected in 1994 and SWAPO maintained a majority in the National Assembly. Independent Namibia faces a number of obstacles in its path to prosperity and social and racial equality, but the country is peaceful and stable. Namibians are optimistic about the future of their new nation.
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