Opuwo Rural is an

electoral constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

in the Kunene Region of

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 ...

. The administrative centre of Opuwo Rural is the settlement of Otuani.Alt URL
/ref> , it has 7,315 registered voters. Opuwo Rural was created in August 2013. Following a recommendation of the ''Fourth Delimitation Commission of Namibia'', and in preparation of the 2014 general election, the old Opuwo Constituency was split into Opuwo Urban and Opuwo Rural.

Politics

The 2014 election, both for the presidency and Namibia's National assembly, was won in Opuwo Rural by 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 ...

(DTA). It was the only constituency in the Kunene Region not dominated by

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 ...

. The 2015 regional election was won by Kazeongera Tjeundo of the DTA with 2,209 votes. Japiavi Mbinge of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) came second with 895 votes while SWAPO Party candidate Agnes Musaso finished last with 732 votes. Opuwo Rural was one of only two constituencies won by the DTA in this election. After Tjeundo decided to run for a parliamentary seat in the

2019 Namibian general election General elections were held in Namibia on 27 November 2019. Ballots were cast using electronic voting. A total of eleven candidates ran for the presidency and fifteen political parties contested the National Assembly elections. Hage Geingob of S ...

, the councillor position became vacant, and a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was run in March 2020. Again the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM, the new name for the DTA since 2017) candidate won. Uarikua Kakuva obtained 2,066 votes, ahead of Kapukatua Kuvare (NUDO, 640 votes) and Steyn Katupa (SWAPO, 435 votes). PDM's Kakuva was re-elected by a large margin in the 2020 regional election, obtaining 2,355 votes. NUDO's Kuvare came second with 646 votes, followed by Tjakazapi Mbunguha (SWAPO) with 597 votes. Councillor Kakuva died in April 2021, and a by-election was held on 2 July 2021. Uakaisiua Muharukua of the PDM won with 2,330 votes, a large margin over runners-up Kazepanda Tjambiru (SWAPO, 486 votes) and Heinz Hariki Maundu (NUDO, 414 votes).

References

Constituencies of Kunene Region 2013 establishments in Namibia States and territories established in 2013 {{Constituencies of the Kunene Region

Politics

See also

References