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The Namibian
February 27,
2003
Summary: Article discusses
the results of a survey by the Institute for Public Policy Research.
SWAPO stats for ’ÄòSouth West African People’Äôs Organization,’Äô and it
is the strongest political party in Namibia by far. Although SWAPO
officials chose a full representation (proportional representation)
system for local government in Namibia, the survey found that most
supporters of the SWAPO party would have prepared a single member
district (ward) system. The Namibian (Windhoek)
SWAPO Members 'Want Ward System'
February 27,
2003 SWAPO pushed through the party list system for upcoming local
authority elections against the wishes of the majority of its
supporters, according to a study by the Institute for Public Policy
Research (IPPR). The research body says in its latest paper on
elections, electoral systems and the gender quota that 59 per cent
of Swapo supporters interviewed preferred a candidate who lived
among them. They also favoured a ward system at local authority
level. The IPPR conducted a survey of 2 000 Namibians of voting age
(18 years and older) in the second half of last year. People across
the country were interviewed face-to-face. The survey says 51 per
cent of all interviewees preferred a ward system, while 34 per cent
opted to vote on party list lines. "Contrary to our initial
expectation, based on the statements by the leaders of the different
parties, the majority of Swapo party supporters (59 per cent)
indicated they would rather vote for a candidate who lives among
them, compared with only 33 per cent who would rather vote for a
party list," IPPR said. It says the overall impression is that the
respondents took an opposite view to that of their leaders. "One
should, however, interpret these findings cautiously, since the
margin of difference between those supporting the one option rather
than the other is not that great," the IPPR cautions. Late last
year Swapo pushed through amendments to the Local Authority Act to
postpone municipal elections that were expected to take place early
this year and to maintain the proportional representation system.
Swapo argued that the party list system was the trend among most
democracies across the world as it was fairer than a
winner-takes-all system. Local and regional elections are likely to
be held at the end of this year, although no dates have been
announced. The IPPR study also found that the overwhelming majority
(90 per cent) of Namibians believe it is important to vote during
elections while 64 per cent indicated it was important to have
opposition parties participating in the political process. "It is
somewhat disconcerting, however, that 17 per cent of respondents
believed multi-party elections are not important. Even more
respondents (20 per cent) indicated opposition parties are 'not
important at all', while a further 15 per cent indicated opposition
parties are only 'somewhat important' for a country like Namibia,"
the research group says. It warns that "People who are concerned
about the future of democracy" in the country should take note of
the responses by the interviewees. |
