The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) is a political party in

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 ...

. It has been represented in the

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of close ...

and in the

National Council of Namibia The National Council is the upper chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. It reviews bills passed by the lower chamber and makes recommendations for legislation of regional concern to the lower chamber. The 42 National Council members are in ...

since it split from the

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...

(now PDM) prior to the 2004

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

and

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

elections. The party's president is

Esther Muinjangue Esther Utjiua Muinjangue (born 17 August 1962) is a Namibian politician and the president of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO), a party which occupies two seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Coun ...

History

NUDO was founded by

Mburumba Kerina Mburumba Kerina (born William Eric Getzen; 6 June 1932 – 14 June 2021) was a Namibian politician and academic. He was a co-founder of SWAPO, NUDO, and FCN, and the founder of a host of smaller political parties. For independent Namibia, he wa ...

Clemens Kapuuo Clemens Kapuuo (16 March 1923 – 27 March 1978) was a Namibian school teacher, shopkeeper, president of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), now called Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), and chief of the Herero people of Namibia. Kapuuo w ...

, and

Hosea Kutako Chief Hosea Katjikururume Komombumbi Kutako (1870 – 18 July 1970), was an early Namibian nationalist leader and a founder member of Namibia's first nationalist party, the South West African National Union (SWANU). "During his life, he exp ...

in September 1965 at the suggestion of the Herero Chief’s Council. It was thus, at that time, an organisation that had mainly

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

followers. At the 1975-1977

Turnhalle Constitutional Conference The Turnhalle Constitutional Conference was a conference held in Windhoek between 1975 and 1977, tasked with the development of a constitution for a self-governed Namibia under South African control. Sponsored by the South African government, th ...

, several ethnically based parties agreed to join the

to form one joint opposition to

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 ...

which at that time had turned the struggle for Namibian independence into a guerrilla war. NUDO remained part of the DTA until it withdrew in September 2003, accusing the DTA of failing to work for

interests. The party then held a congress in January 2004.

Leadership

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue became the party’s first elected female president and the first elected female leader of a Namibian political party when she defeated the Okakarara constituency councillor, Vetaruhe Kandorozu, at the party’s third elective congress, which took place on 25–26 March 2019. At the elective congress, which was held in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

, Peter Kazongominja was elected vice president and Joseph Kauandenge was elected secretary-general of the party. Muinjangue defeated the councillor by 240 to 227 votes.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

Local elections

In the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on 15 and 16 November 2004, the party won 4.1% of popular votes and 3 out of 78 seats. Herero Chief

Kuaima Riruako Kuaima Isaac Riruako (24 April 1935CV at Namibian Parliament website

, the President of NUDO, was its candidate in the concurrent presidential election, placing fourth with 4.23% of the national vote. NUDO president Kuaima Riruako died on 2 June 2014, and was succeeded by

Asser Mbai Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his co ...

. in the 2014 National Assembly elections NUDO won 2 seats which went to president Asser Mbai and secretary-general Meundju Jahanika."ELECTION UPDATE 2004, NAMIBIA"
, EISA report, number 3, December 10, 2004, page 9.

References

{{Namibian political parties Political parties in Namibia Political parties established in 1965 1965 establishments in South West Africa