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 ...

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