(Bloomberg) -- Early results from Namibia’s presidential and parliamentary elections show the ruling party garnered the most support, albeit markedly less than it did five years ago, unofficial tallies show.
With about 125,346 votes counted by mid-afternoon on Friday, the South West African Peoples Organisation had 48% backing, the Independent Patriots for Change 20% and the Landless People’s Movement 10%, according to a preliminary tally posted on the privately owned Namvotes24 website.
In the presidential race, Swapo’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is currently the deputy president, secured 53% of the 126,206 tallied ballots and IPC founder Panduleni Itula 27%. A candidate needs to win more than half of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Swapo has ruled Namibia since independence in 1990 and won 65.5% support in the last elections in 2019, but faces a potential backlash over high levels of unemployment, graft and inequality. The country is poised to become a major oil and gas producer following recent offshore discoveries in the Orange Basin by companies including TotalEnergies SE and Shell Plc, raising the stakes in this year’s vote.
Official results from Namibia’s 121 constituencies are expected to be released over the weekend. More than 1.4 million people registered to cast ballots.
The vote was scheduled to be completed on Nov. 27, but was extended by two days in some areas that were impacted by delays caused by ballot-paper shortages and voting-device failures.
The IPC has criticized the process and suggested there may be attempts to influence the outcome. The electoral commission called on citizens to remain calm and exercise patience until the process has been completed, and emphasized its commitment to fairness and transparency.
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