National Assembly (Namibia)

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National Assembly
National Assembly
logo Ink Palace
logo Ink Palace
Basic data
Seat: Ink Palace in Windhoek
Legislative period : 5 years
First session: November 1989
MPs: 96 + 8 (until March 19, 2015: 72 + 6)
Current legislative period
Last choice: 2019
Next choice: 2024
Chair: Peter Katjavivi
Distribution of seats:
63
16
4th
13
8th
63 16 4th 13 8th 
A total of 104 seats
  • SWAPO : 63
  • PDM : 16
  • LPM : 4
  • Otherwise: 13
  • Appointed : 8

The National Assembly ( English National Assembly ) is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of the Republic of Namibia . The National Council forms the upper house of the country. The National Assembly and the National Council have their seat in Namibia's capital Windhoek .

According to the Namibian constitution of March 1990 with amendments, the National Assembly of Namibia has 96 (until March 19, 2015: 72) MPs , who are elected by the people for a term of five years according to proportional representation. Eight (until March 19, 2015: six) of the MPs are directly appointed by the President and therefore have no voting rights . The Chairman of the National Assembly ( President of Parliament ) has been Peter Katjavivi since March 20, 2015 (with re-election on March 20, 2020) .

Parliament building

National Assembly Hall

The National Assembly meets in the so-called " Ink Palace " from 1913. The construction of a new parliament building behind the existing one is planned (status October 2015). The possible costs (as of January 2014) were given as 700 million Namibian dollars. Far-reaching resistance is forming in the population. In October 2015, the expected costs were estimated at more than one billion Namibian dollars. A new design for the new building from the end of 2015 provides for a futuristic building in the shape of a Welwitschia , which is also to bear the name of this plant. Construction costs of at least 2.4 billion Namibian dollars are expected. The project was stopped on June 9, 2016 due to the costs associated with the ongoing drought .

Distribution of seats in the National Assembly

The new National Assembly always meets on March 21 of the year that falls on the last election year. If March 21st falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the new National Assembly will always be sworn in on the last working day before March 21st.

The distribution of seats is based on a threshold that is composed of the number of votes cast divided by the number of seats available for election. For the National Assembly from 2015 to 2019 this was 9,308 votes. Each party receives as many seats as it has votes divided by the threshold. Unallocated seats are distributed in descending order according to the amount of excess votes.

Political party Legislative periods
2020-2025 2015-2020 2010-2015 2005-2010 2000-2004 1995-2000 1990-1995
SWAPO 63   77   54   55   55   53   41
PDM (DTA) 16   5   2   4   7   15   21st
LPM 4   - - - - - -
APP 2   2   1   - - - -
NEFF 2   - - - - - -
RP 2   1   1   1   - - -
NUDO 2   2   2   2   3   - -
UDF 2   2   2   3   2   2   4th
CDV 1   - - - - - -
RDP 1   3   8   - - - -
SWANU 1   1   1   - - - -
WRP 0   2   - - - - -
UPM 0   1   - - - - -
COD 0   0   1   5   7th - -
NPF 0 - - - - 0   1
LIKE - 0   0   1   1   1   -
DCN - - - - 0   1   -
ACN - - - - - 0   3
FCN - - - - - 0   1
NNF - - - - - 0   1
Seats (entitled to vote) 96 96 72 72 72 72 72
Appointed Members of Parliament 1 8th 8th 6th 6th 6th 6th 6th
Total seats 104 104 78 78 78 78 78

1 not entitled to vote
Official opposition party in bold.

Reform 2014

Third change

On October 13, 2014, the most far-reaching reform of the political system since Namibia's independence took place, after weeks of controversial discussion. The most important changes were decided:

  • Increase in elected parliamentary seats to 96 (previously 72)
  • Increase in the number of MPs appointed by the President to eight (previously six)
  • thereby increasing the total number of MPs in parliament from 78 to 104
  • Increase in the number of seats in the National Council from currently two seats per region to three seats; thus instead of 26 seats (13 regions) in the future 42 seats (14 regions)
  • Introduction of the position of Vice President

The introduction of a threshold clause of five percent was initially planned, but was rejected by the Prime Minister as well as voting rights for the members of parliament appointed by the President.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Protest against new swanky construction. Allgemeine Zeitung, January 14, 2014 Retrieved January 14, 2014
  2. ^ New parliament building cost balloons. The Namibian, October 5, 2015
  3. ^ New parliament. The Namibian, May 19, 2016.
  4. ↑ Breaking news from Allgemeine Zeitung, June 9, 2016
  5. ↑ Election shocker. Informanté, July 3, 2014 ( memento of July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on July 4, 2014
  6. ↑ Constitutional amendment ment finally gazetted. New Era, October 15, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2014