The All People's Party (APP) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. Registered with the

Electoral Commission of Namibia The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) is an agency of the Government of Namibia. It was founded in 1992 under the Electoral Act 24 of 1992. The aim of the commission is to oversee all Namibian electoral activities starting from voter registra ...

in January 2008, the party was initially made up primarily of former members of the

Congress of Democrats The Congress of Democrats (CoD) is a Namibian opposition party without representation in the National Assembly and led by Ben Ulenga. It was established in 1999, prior to that year's general elections, and started off with a number of notabl ...

and

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

political parties. Among the initial leaders were Chairperson

Ignatius Shixwameni Ignatius Nkotongo Shixwameni (4 September 1966 – 10 November 2021) was a Namibian politician. He was the leader of Namibia's All People's Party. Life Shixwameni was born in Shambyu, the traditional kingdom in the Kavango Region, and he ear ...

and Deputy Chairperson Stephanus Swartbooi.

, who had led the party since 2009, died on 10 November 2021.

Policies

Prior to the 2009 general election, the party sought to eliminate poverty in Namibia within five years and

informal settlements Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the inform ...

in ten years. In a political forum prior to the 2009 election, party representative

Lena Nakatana Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

stated that the human rights of LGBT Namibians should be respected because of their equal citizenship.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

2015 local and regional elections

In the

2015 Namibian local and regional elections Namibia held elections for their local and regional councils on 27 November 2015. Ballots were cast using electronic voting. Electoral system Elections to regional councils are held using the first-past-the-post electoral system. Voters in each ...

the APP won 4 council seats.

2014 general election

In the

2014 Namibian general election General elections were held in Namibia on 28 November 2014, although early voting took place in foreign polling stations and for seagoing personnel on 14 November. The elections were the first on the African continent to use electronic voting. ...

the APP gained 2 seats in parliament.

2009 general election

In the 2009 Namibian general election campaign, the party leadership consisted of President Shixwameni, Vice President

Reinhold Madala Nauyoma Reinhold is a German male given name. This German name is originally from "Reinold", composed of two elements. The first is from ''ragin'', meaning "the (Germanic) Gods" and ''wald'' meaning "powerful". This name was popularised by the ancient Ge ...

, Secretary General Mukuve Marcellus Mudumbi and National chairman

Herbert Shixwameni Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

. All four of which were activists in the

Namibia National Students Organisation The Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) is a national student organisation in Namibia. It was founded on 2 June 1984 in Döbra, about north of the capital Windhoek. Student Representation NANSO has been representing Namibian stude ...

. In October 2009, the party and the

Rehoboth Ratepayers' Association The Rehoboth Ratepayers' Association (RRA) is a local political party in Rehoboth, Namibia. It is closely affiliated with Namibia's Baster community which is centered in Rehoboth. The party was formed in 1998 by Baster leader Hans Diergaardt to th ...

, a local political party in Rehoboth in the

Hardap Region Hardap is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Mariental. Hardap contains the municipality of Mariental, the towns Rehoboth and Aranos, and the self-governed villages Gibeon, Gochas, Kalkrand, Stampriet and Maltahöhe. It is ...

, agreed to a

collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

to cooperate in the 2009 general elections. The leader of the association,

Lukas de Klerk Lukas is a form of the Latin name Lucas. Popularity In 2013 it was the ninth most popular name for boys in Australia. Meaning and different spellings * Amharic - Luqas (ሉቃስ) * Arabic - Luqa (لوقا) / Luqas (لوكاس) * Armenian - Ղ� ...

, said it was a way for Rehoboth to have representation in the Namibian National Assembly. De Klerk was listed at the sixth position for the party on the list for National Assembly.Sasman, Catherine (19 October 2009).
APP, Reho Seal Deal Amid Protest
'' New Era''. Retrieved 25 March 2011. Party President

was elected to the National Assembly with the party. The party garnered 10,795 (1.3 percent) of votes for the National Assembly. The party joined with other opposition parties to contest the conduct and outcome of the 2009 National Assembly election, bringing forth a legal challenge aiming to declare the election null and void.

2004 local and regional elections

Although the party was founded after the 2004 Namibian local and regional elections it participated in the regional by-election in the Tobias Hainyeko constituency in October 2008. However, it received only 164 votes, compared to 5,526 for SWAPO. The other political parties contesting the election withdrew two days prior to the election."Elections 2009: APP here for change"
'' New Era''. allafrica.com, from 14 September 2009

References

{{Namibian political parties Political parties established in 2008 Political parties in Namibia 2008 establishments in Namibia Socialist parties in Namibia