Nujoma's successor wins

2004-11-20 14:03

Windhoek - President Sam Nujoma's chosen successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, won an overwhelming victory in elections in Namibia, garnering more than 77% of the vote, results from more than half of counted ballots showed on Friday.

Pohamba, 69, the current lands minister, is to become Namibia's second president since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

With 52% of ballots counted, Pohamba had garnered 77.4% of the vote compared to 6.8% for his nearest rival, opposition leader Ben Ulenga of the Congress of Democrats party, according to results from the electoral commission.

Three other opposition leaders garnered less than five percent of the vote in the elections held Monday and Tuesday in the vast southern African country of 1.82 million people.

Swapo headed for victory

The elections, the third since Namibia's independence, were a milestone as they marked the departure of Nujoma, a pivotal figure in Namibian politics for five decades.

Nujoma, 75, is to step down in March after 15 years in power, although he will retain the powerful post of president of the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) party until 2007.

Pohamba was considered a shoe-in for the presidency and Swapo was also headed for a landslide victory in the parliament elections also held on Monday and Tuesday.

Partial results showed Swapo had picked up a massive 83% of the vote compared to 4.1 percent for the CoD and 3.9 percent for the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance.

But most of the ballots counted thus far came from constituencies in the north of the country, which is Swapo's support base and home to the Ovambo tribe to which Nujoma and Pohamba belong.

During his five-year term, Pohamba will be facing one of his biggest tests of leadership with land reform, conscious that he must address fears of a Zimbabwe-style land grab.

Around 4 000 farmers, the majority of whom are white, own 44% of Namibia's arable land, an imbalance the government has vowed to redress with compensation and a peaceful transfer of land ownership.

Among the other presidential candidates, Justus Garoeb of the United Democratic Front garnered 4.5 percent of the vote, Katuutire Kaura of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) won 4.8 percent and Kuaima Riruako of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) won 3.5 percent, according to the latest results. - AFP

- SAPA