Elections in Namibia

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In elections in Namibia there are four different occasions to which those in since independence in 1990, Namibia take place. All elections are based on the Constitution of Namibia and the Electoral Act 1992 with amendments from 2006 and 2009. Namibia, as a democratic state, is based on a multi-party system . For elections, Namibia is currently (as of August 9, 2013) 121 constituencies .

Suffrage

The right to vote in Namibia have all Namibian citizens who have reached the age of 18. The stand for election , every Namibian citizen who has reached the age of 21. In the case of presidential elections, this person must be at least 35 years old and meet the constitutional requirements for eligibility for the National Assembly .

elections

Presidential election

The President is the first since the 1994 election every five years after the majority vote by direct selected universal and equal choice. Anyone who can collect more than 50 percent of the vote is elected President. In a runoff election , only the two best candidates run.

National Assembly

The Namibian parliamentary elections ( National Assembly ) have taken place every five years since 1989. Political parties that have previously been approved by the Namibian Election Commission are elected according to proportional representation . 96 members (up to the 2014 election only 72) of the National Assembly are elected by this election on the basis of party lists . Eight (up to the 2014 election only 6) members are appointed by the President.

All parties that, according to the mathematical ratio, win at least one seat in parliament are allowed to enter the National Assembly. In previous elections, this threshold was between 0.62 percent and 0.82 percent. A restrictive clause does not exist.

Regional council elections

The regional council elections in the 14 (up to August 2013 only 13) regions of Namibia took place every six years beginning in 1992. With the 2010 regional council election , the legislative period was reduced to five years. The next elections took place in 2015 (for the first time in 14 regions) and will take place again in 2020 .

Whoever wins the most votes in his constituency in direct elections receives a seat on the regional council of his region. Thus each regional council has as many members as there are constituencies in the region. Since the 2010 election, the governor of a region has been appointed directly by the president. He doesn't have to belong to any particular political party. Previously, this was elected from among the regional council members.

The persons who are registered in the respective constituency are entitled to vote (at least 12 months of verifiable residence required).

National Council

The 42 members (until the election in 2015 only 26) of the National Council made up of three (until the election in 2015 only 2) members of the regional councils in each region together. These are elected from among their ranks by the respective regional councils in a secret ballot.

Local elections

The local elections, at the level of municipalities, towns and villages, have taken place parallel to the regional council elections since 1992. It is elected according to proportional representation with a party list on the basis of mathematical relationships (compare election to the National Assembly).

Those who live in the respective municipal area for at least 12 months are entitled to vote.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Electoral Commission of Namibia, Voter Education ( Memento of December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on November 24, 2010 (English)
  2. ↑ Namibia e-Laws  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.namlii.org  
  3. ^ Media Briefing at State House by President Pohamba. Namibia Press Agency (Nampa), August 8, 2013
  4. ^ Constitution of Namibia, Chapter 3, Article 17, Paragraph 2, accessed on November 24, 2010 (English)
  5. ↑ Elections Eye, p. 9, Civil Society Elections Coalition, 2009 ( Memento from January 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 898 kB)
  6. ^ Constitution of Namibia, Chapter 5, Article 28, Paragraph 3, accessed on November 24, 2010 (English)
  7. ^ Constitution of Namibia, Chapter 7, Article 47, accessed on November 24, 2010 (English)
  8. ↑ Constitution of Namibia, Chapter 7, Article 49, accessed on November 24, 2010 (English)
  9. ↑ Full approval - two amendments to the law passed by the National Council, Allgemeine Zeitung, October 29, 2010
  10. ↑ Top executives for city and local councils, Allgemeine Zeitung, November 24, 2010