Namibia’s president secures second term, support drops

Namibian president Hage Geingob on Saturday won the country’s presidential elections with a diminished majority of 56.3 percent, the worst performance of any ruling party candidate for nearly 30 years.

Geingob was declared president of this week’s vote, retaining his position and the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation’s (SWAPO) long dominance of power, despite a recession and a corruption scandal that has fuelled popular discontent.

SWAPO presidents have traditionally won by over 70 percent in presidential elections since the country’s independence in 1990.

Geingob, 78, and his liberation party movement SWAPO both lost support compared to the previous national elections in the vast desert nation in southwest Africa, where he claimed a sweeping 87 percent in the 2014 election.

Accepting the results, Geingob said there was always one winner in elections but that “democracy was the biggest winner.”

“It was peaceful and tough,” he said.