Namibia set for first female president as disputed election count advances
Al Jazeera
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is leading the presidential race but could be forced into a run-off vote.
Namibia appears set to get its first female president, with Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah holding a healthy lead as the count from last week’s disputed election proceeds.
With 65.57 percent of votes counted, results released early on Tuesday on the election commission’s portal showed governing party candidate Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, leading the race with 54.82 percent of the vote.
Results were initially expected a few days after the November 27 poll, but voting was extended by three days at several polling stations following technical difficulties and ballot paper shortages.
The main opposition Independent Patriots for Change, whose candidate Panduleni Itula trails with 28 percent, has already rejected the election as a sham.
The votes counted so far are for 79 of 121 constituencies, including all but two in the capital, Windhoek. Of the nearly 1.5 million registered voters, 73 percent cast ballots, the electoral commission said.
