Namibia
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Sam Nujoma and Queen Elizabeth II

Namibia
Government and Politics


After the Independence of Namibia in the year 1990, Dr. Sam Nujoma, head of SWAPO - South West African People's Organisation - became the first President of the new state. SWAPO had led the Guerilla war against the South African Apartheid regime, which had persued a policy of racial segregation and discrimination.

Sam NujomaNamibia's independence was demonstrated with free elections in the year 1989. For the first time, the black majority had the right to vote. SWAPO came off at these elections as the strongest political power in the country. The Constitutional Assembly elected Sam Nujoma in unison as State President. In the second free elections in 1994, SWAPO reached a two-third majority and President Sam Nujoma was confirmed into office and after a change in the constitution, he was elected State President for the third time in 1999. In 2005, Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba succeeded him in the office.
The members of the parliament are elected every five years. In the elections of 1999 the governing SWAPO gained 55 of the 72 seats. As in South Africa, the opposition parties are politically weak and hardly relevant. The DTA (Democratic Turnhallen Alliance), the main party of the white minority, holds only 7 seats. Also the CoD (Congress of Democrats), founded in 1998, with its charismatic leader Ben Ulenga could secure only 7 seats in 1999. All the opposition groups together hold 17 seats.

The government resides in the so-called "Tintenpalast" ("Ink Palace") in the centre of Namibia's capital Windhoek. This building, in its original form, stems from the phase of German colonialism and was inaugurated in the year 1913. The general public became upset over the unsuitable geographical position of the building high up on a hill. It was said that the government wanted to be safe from the public, and a suggestion was made to build a cable car. The people called the building "Tintenpalast", an allusion to the activities of the numerous officials and clerks who were employed in the administration. The name is still in use.

Meanwhile, a new and considerably bigger government building was erected in Windhoek next to the Tintenpalast. The Supreme Court is also housed in an impressive building.

More information on Namibia's government and politics to be found on the Info page.
Tintenpalast
Top left: Dr. Sam Nujoma, first democratic president of Namibia. Top right: Sam Nujoma at a state visit with Queen Elizabeth II in Windhoek on the occasion of Namibia's accession to the Commonwealth. Bottom left: The Tintenpalast, Windhoek.

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