The United Democratic Front (UDF) 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 ...
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 ...
.
Justus ǁGaroëb founded the party in 1989 and led it until 2013. He was succeeded by
Apius Auchab
Apius Auchab (born 3 October 1959) is a Namibian politician who has served as the president of the United Democratic Front (Namibia), United Democratic Front since 2013. He has been a Member of the National Assembly (Namibia), National Assembly si ...
.
History
The United Democratic Front is a political party that is most widely supported by
Damara people
The Damara, plural Damaran (Khoekhoegowab: ǂNūkhoen, ''Black people'', german: Bergdamara, referring to their extended stay in hilly and mountainous sites, also called at various times the Daman or the Damaqua) are an ethnic group who make ...
. Its roots are in the
Damara Council The Damara Council was a political party in Damaraland, a Bantustan in South West Africa (now Namibia). In 1977 a breakaway faction joined the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), while in 1989, the remainder of the DC was one of 8 political parties ...
, an administrative body for the
Damaraland
Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of what later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damara (people), Damaras. It was bounded roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, a ...
territory in
South West Africa
South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...
that in 1980 became a political party. The Damara Council in 1989 joined other parties in order to participate in the
first democratic elections in Namibia. The result of the merger was the United Democratic Front (UDF).
The founding members of the UDF were Justus ǁGaroëb, leader of the Damara Council, and
Reggie Diergaardt, leader of the
Labour Party. On 20 July 1989 the
Patriotic Unity Movement joined the UDF.
The UDF formed an alliance with a number of splinter parties prior to the 1989 election:
*
CANU-UDF, a wing of
CANU, led by
George Mutwa
*
Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), led by
Attie Beukes,
Erica Beukes, and
Werner Henry Mamugwe
*
Caprivi Alliance Party (CAP), led by
Gabriel Siseho
*
Original People's Party (OPP), led by
Theophelus Soroseb
*
Namibia National Independence Party (NNIP), led by
Rudolf Ngondo
*
Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM), led by
Eric Biwa.
Electoral history
Presidential elections
National Assembly elections
1989
The UDF received 37,874 votes (5.65%) in the 1989 election, which elected members to the
Constituent Assembly of Namibia
Below is a list of members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which became the National Assembly of Namibia upon independence in March 1990. Individual members were selected by political parties voted for in the 1989 election, the first de ...
. The Constituent Assembly elected the first President and wrote Namibia's constitution. From the UDF, President
Justus ǁGaroëb,
Reggie Diergaardt,
Eric Biwa and
Theophelus Soroseb were chosen for the assembly.
1992
The UDF won one seat in the 1992 elections for 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 i ...
.
1994
In 1994, electoral support for the party diminished in both relative and total support. The party received 13,309 total votes (2.72% of the national vote). Two UDF members were elected to the National Assembly (ǁGaroëb and Biwa).
1998
The party retained its single seat in the National Council in 1998.
1999
Following the
1999 parliamentary election, the UDF formed a coalition with 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) so that the two parties could together be the official opposition despite 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 ...
receiving the second highest number of votes.
2004
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 November 15 and 16, 2004, the party won 3.5% of popular votes and 3 out of 78 seat
1 More than half (16,081 of 29,336 total votes) of the party's electoral support came from
Khomas Region
Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative unit. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superior trans ...
,
Kunene Region
Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains the ...
and
Otjozondjupa Region
Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters.
Ge ...
, with the single largest total coming from Kunene. The party again retained its single seat in the National Council in 2004.
2004 National Council Election
africanelections The UDF MPs elected in 2004 were Justus ǁGaroëb, Gustaphine Tjombe and Michael Goreseb.
2009
In the November 2009 general election, Justus ǁGaroëb once again ran for election to Namibia's presidency with the UDF; he received 19,258 total votes, representing 2.37% of all votes and finished in fifth place. The party earned 2 seats in the National Assembly, down from 3 in 2004. The two seats went to party leader Justus ǁGaroëb and Simson Tjongarero.
References
External links
Reprint of "Namibian Voters Deny Total Power to SWAPO" by Michael Johns
''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', November 19, 1989.
{{Namibian political parties
Political parties in Namibia
Damara people
Political parties established in 1989
1989 establishments in South West Africa