Leader, Ruling Party Easily Win Election

Hundreds of jubilant supporters in Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, celebrated the runaway victories of President Sam Nujoma and his ruling party in the South African nation’s third democratic election. With most of the ballots counted, the South-West African People’s Organization, or SWAPO, had 77% of the vote. Nujoma, 70, also took 77% of the presidential ballot in winning a third term. The margin of SWAPO’s victory surprised analysts, many of whom predicted it would lose its two-thirds majority in the parliament because of growing discontent with high unemployment and poverty. The Democratic Turnhalle Alliance took 10% of the vote.