allAfrica.com: Namibia: Namibia's Dominant Political Party System (Page 1 of 6)

1. Cohesion and constructive functioning of the dominant party in society. Dominant parties as sources for stability and predictability

The case in Namibia

Swapo Party being the dominant party in Namibia seized legitimate political power and thereby ending colonial rule on 21 March 2000. It was democratically elected during free and fair elections and gained majority support. SWAPO Party's growth as dominant party was as follows:

1989: Constituent Assembly elections 57.3%

1994: National Assembly elections 72.7%

1999: National Assembly elections 76.2%

2004: National Assembly elections 75.8%

From the above it is evident that SWAPO Party entrenched its political domain since independence. The party commands support in all population groups, but its main support base (± 95%) is in the Oshiwambo-speaking population group constituting approximately 51% of the total Namibian population. It originated in the Oshiwambo speaking population.

The constant gain in support led to the consolidation of SWAPO's political power and dominance in the political system. As such it controls the political policy- and decision-making process in Namibia. SWAPO's mass support in numerical terms has made it "an electorally dominant party" (Melber: 65). The factual situation is that Namibia has become a dominant party state. Since independence, SWAPO Party has gone through a transition and transformation process, from a liberation movement to a political party. It is committed to the principle of a multi-party democracy and therefore to multi-partyism as enshrined in the Constitution.

SWAPO Party is presently opposed in Parliament by some small, mostly ethnic based political parties. The most important one is presently the Congress of Democrats (CoD) which was supported by 7.27% of the electorate during the 2004 National Assembly elections. CoD is the only opposition party that can claim limited support throughout Namibia.

In general, it can be said that due to a weak opposition there is no political counterweight of any relevance in Namibia. All political parties represented in the National Assembly take ideologically spoken a middle position in the political spectrum.

Party political programmes of those parties represented in the National Assembly do not differ fundamentally from those of the SWAPO Party on most issues. The opposition parties are divided among themselves and from time to time split up into smaller groups.

The history of political parties in Namibia since independence is marked by new formations and disintegration of existing parties. This particularly applies to opposition parties. Breakaways from SWAPO Party but to a very small extent occurred in 1998 when the CoD was formed and again in 2007 when the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) was constituted as a party. The latter's support cannot be verified yet. The question arises why are the opposition parties so weak? While the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) was the strongest opposition party/alliance with 20.45 % support during the 1994 National Assembly elections it was only supported by 5.14 % of the electorate during the 2004 National Assembly elections.

Not being able to offer political positions and material gains as the ruling party can offer, as well as leader competition and ethnic/tribal differences were the main causes.

Before independence SWAPO Party considered itself as a socialist movement, but has since independence moved away from this ideological base. According to its party political programme and actions it could be considered as a party with trends towards neo-liberalism and social democracy with some diehards supporting democratic socialism and Marxism.

Believing in a mixed economy, although hardly practising it, SWAPO Party claims to be the only political force able to drive development based on equity and that can successfully pursue national integration and unity ("unity in diversity").

In his address to the SWAPO Party Congress on 27 November 2007, the Namibian President, H. Pohamba, emphasized that the party has entered the second phase of its struggle, namely economic empowerment of the Namibian people, led by people who are both politically astute and economically informed in order to address the pressing needs of the people.

-Reference:

Melber, H (2007): "SWAPO is the Nation, and the Nation is SWAPO" - Government and Opposition in a Dominant Party State. The Case of Namibia. In: Hulterström, K, Kamete, A.Y., Melber, H: Political Opposition in African Countries. The Cases of Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, pp. 61-81.

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