Namibia's Swapo records its worst election performance - continuing a trend seen across Africa.
Namibia's governing party, Swapo, has retained its hold on power after more than 30 years, however its grip has been loosened - the latest African country where incumbents have had a difficult time this year.
In almost every election held in the region this year under reasonably democratic conditions, the governing party either lost a significant number of seats or lost power completely.Namibians have been governed by Swapo since independence in 1990 After winning only four seats, the BDP is now one of the smallest parties in parliament, and faces an uphill battle to remain politically relevant.
After growing domestic and international pressure led to Faye and Sonko being released, Faye went on to win the presidency in the first round of voting, with the government’s candidate winning only 36% of the vote.Even in cases where governments have not lost, their reputation and political control have been severely dented.
The only exceptions to this have been countries where elections were seen as neither free nor fair, such as Chad and Rwanda, or in which governments were accused by opposition and rights groups of resorting to a combination of rigging and repression to avert defeat, as in Mozambique.In Botswana, Mauritius and Senegal, growing citizen concern about corruption and the abuse of power eroded government credibility.
High food and fuel prices have increased the cost of living for millions of citizens, increasing their frustration with the status quo. In some cases, such as Mauritius, this meant developing new ways to try and protect the vote by ensuring every stage of the electoral process was carefully watched.In Botswana, for example, three opposition parties and a number of independent candidates came together under the banner of the Umbrella for Democratic Change to comprehensively out-mobilise the BDP.
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