By Miracle Ogunde
Namibia has elected her first woman president after a disputed vote that the main opposition has already said it does not recognise.
Ruling SWAPO party was declared winner Tuesday of last week’s disputed elections, ushering in the southern African first female leader.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, becomes the first woman to rule the mineral-rich southern African country that has been governed by the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) since independence in 1990.
Nandi-Ndaitwah took just over 57 percent of ballots followed by the candidate for the main opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) with 25.5 percent, the election authority announced.
The November 27 election was extended twice as logistical and technical problems, including a shortage of ballot papers, led to long queues.
The IPC has already said this was a deliberate attempt to frustrate voters and it would not accept the results of the elections.
Its presidential candidate Panduleni Itula, 67, said last week there were a “multitude of irregularities”.
Itula said the IPC would “fight… to nullify the elections through the processes that are established within our electoral process”.
An organisation of southern African human rights lawyers serving as election monitors said the delays at the ballot box were intentional and widespread.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) admitted to failures in the organisation of the vote, including a shortage of ballot papers and the overheating of electronic tablets used to register voters.
Of the nearly 1.5 million registered voters in the sparsely populated country, nearly 77 percent had cast ballots in the presidential vote, it said Tuesday.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, a SWAPO stalwart known by her initials NNN, will be among the few women leaders on the continent.
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