(Bloomberg) -- Partial results from Namibia’s elections show the sparsely populated southwest African nation is on course to appoint its first female leader since it gained independence almost 35 years ago.
With 465,995 votes counted from 60 of the 121 constituencies, the ruling South West African Peoples Organisation’s presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah had 54% backing, and the Independent Patriots for Change’s founder Panduleni Itula 27.6%, the electoral commission said on its website Monday. Swapo secured 53.1% of the 426,278 votes cast in 55 constituencies in the parliamentary race and the IPC 19.3%.
Swapo has ruled Namibia since 1990 and won 65.5% support in the last elections five years ago, but risks losing support amid widespread public anger over high levels of unemployment, graft and inequality.
The country, which has uranium and diamond deposits, 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.
Some 1.45 million people registered to cast ballots last week. A presidential contender needs to win more than half of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Unofficial partial results posted on the privately owned Namvotes24 website showed Swapo garnering 56.3% of 469,353 votes in the parliamentary election to the IPC’s 19.8%. Nandi-Ndaitwah, currently the deputy president, led the presidential race with 60.1% of 519,967 votes tallied so far, while Itula had 14%, it said.
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(Updates with partial parliamentary election results in second paragraph.)
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