“Ruling coalitions” take charge of coastal towns

All three the central west coast towns of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Henties Bay are now governed by ruling coalitions in their respective town councils. This unprecedented political development comes with compliments of opposition voters who turned out in numbers at the polls during the Regional Council and Local Authority Elections on 25 November this year.

Since 1992, when Namibia’s first regional- and local authority elections were held, the Swapo Party of Namibia held the reigns. In Walvis Bay that became the political norm in 1994, with the re-integration of the Enclave of Walvis Bay as Namibian territory from the then National Party-ruled Republic of South Africa.
Apart from taking a major beating at the polls for local authorities (town councils), Swapo also took a beating at regional council level where it man-aged to hold onto three seats (from five seats), with the Independent Patriots for Change with three seats and the United Democratic Front (UDF) which is in kingmaker position with one seat.
“Swapo has lost its title as ruling party. In most town councils and at regional level it now takes the seat as opposition”, explains a local authority political analyst. Adding it is appropriate to now refer to ruling coalitions, as all the non-Swapo parties and organisations have no other choice than to form coalitions with one another, in order to keep Swapo tied down firmly.