Parliamentary elections were held 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 ...

between 4 and 8 December 1978. These first elections conducted under

universal adult suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

—all previous elections had been Whites-only—were won 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 ...

, which claimed 41 of the 50 seats. The elections were conducted without

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

(UN) supervision, and in defiance of the 1972

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Cur ...

's recognition of the militant

South West African People's Organisation 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 ...

(SWAPO) as the "sole representative of Namibia's people". The UN henceforth declared the elections null and void. The resulting government, dependent on

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

n approval for all its legislation, was in power until its dissolution in 1983.

Background

The elections were a direct outcome of 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 ...

, a controversial conference 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 ...

that developed a draft constitution for a semi-autonomous South West Africa. Representatives of 11 South West African ethnic groups were invited, selected by the South African government. Existing political parties were not considered. As a result of the conference, the

(DTA) was founded, mainly from the attending ethnic groups and smaller, ethnically based parties. This was done to form a counterbalance to SWAPO. The Turnhalle Conference developed a draft constitution called the ''Turnhalle Plan'' for the territory. The constitution was approved in a Whites-only referendum in 1977 but never enacted, due to pressure by the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

(UNSC). However, the planned elections under general adult suffrage were still held.

Conduct

The 1978 legislative elections were the first multi-racial elections in the territory of South West Africa, all previous elections were only for Whites. Even though the elections excluded the

Namibia National Front The Namibia National Front (NNF) was an alliance of nationalist but moderate parties in Namibia. It was formed in 1977 as a merger of the Namibia National Convention (which had been marginalized after SWAPO's departure from it) and the Namibia N ...

SWAPO Democrats The SWAPO Democrats, also known as SWAPO-D, was a political party formed from a break within the South West Africa People's Organization in 1978. Formed in Sweden on 10 June 1978, the party was led by former leading SWAPO members Andreas Shipang ...

and SWAPO, who in turn called for a boycott, voter turnout was surprisingly high at 80%. The presence of South African troops, particularly in the north of Namibia, might have been a reason for both high turnout and the DTA result, and there were several charges of coercion levelled at major South West African employers and the South African security forces. However, the level of support of SWAPO's political programme and

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative ...

within the general population was unclear, which cast some doubt on the

(UNGA) 1972 decision to accept SWAPO as the "sole representative of Namibia's people". There was a general perception that eligible voters who abstained from participating were SWAPO supporters. Encouraged by a voter turnout that high, the DTA subsequently claimed that it enjoyed a greater degree of popular support than SWAPO.

Results

The interim government consisted of a National Assembly and a Council of Ministers. The DTA won the elections by a landslide, gaining 41 of the 50 seats in the National Assembly and the chairmanship of the ministerial council, to which

Dirk Mudge Dirk Frederik Mudge (16 January 192826 August 2020) was a Namibian politician. He served in several high-ranking positions in the South African administration of South West Africa, was the chairman of the 1975–1977 Turnhalle Constitutional Con ...

was appointed.

Johannes Skrywer Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Ye ...

became speaker of the National Assembly. The UNSC declared the election "null and void", and the subsequent interim government illegitimate.

Aftermath

The interim government was dissolved on 18 January 1983 when South Africa again assumed full administrative authority over South West Africa after the Council of Ministers had resigned in the face of South African interference. The subsequent void was filled by South African administrators. In September 1983 the

Multi-Party Conference In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...

(MPC) was established. It consisted of 19 "internal" (that is, South West African) parties but again excluded SWAPO. The MPC suggested in its April 1985 ''Bill of Fundamental Rights and Objectives'' the establishment of a

Transitional Government of National Unity The Transitional Government of National Unity (''Gouvernement d'Union Nationale de Transition'' or GUNT) was the coalition government of armed groups that nominally ruled Chad from 1979 to 1982, during the most chaotic phase of the long-running ci ...

(TNGU). South Africa followed this suggestion three months later. This interim government was again rejected by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 566.

References

{{Namibian elections 1978 in South West Africa Elections in Namibia