The United People's Movement, formerly known as the Rehoboth Democratic Movement, is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

(self-described "unity movement") based in

Rehoboth, Namibia Rehoboth is a town in the Hardap Region of central Namibia, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It had a population of 40,788 people in 2023. Rehoboth is intersected from north to south by the national road B1, which also serves as the bor ...

. It formed in March 2010 and is headed by Willem Bismark van Wyk (President) and former leading

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly 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 Front ...

member Piet Junius (Vice President).New political party emerges at Rehoboth

The Namibian ''The Namibian'' is the largest daily newspaper in Namibia. It is published in English and Oshiwambo. History The newspaper was established in 1985 by journalist Gwen Lister as a weekly newspaper reliant on support of donors, which aimed to ...

, 16 March 2010 The party changed names in August 2010 to the United People's Movement.Rehoboth politics gets messier

, 18 August 2010 The party officially registered with the Electoral Commission in July 2010UPM readies for elections
New Era, 4 August 2010 and contested the November 2010 local and regional elections, where it won 2 seats in the Rehoboth local council and 1 seat on the

Okahandja Okahandja is a city of 45,159 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the ''Garden Town of Namibia''. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the B1 r ...

Municipality. The UPM is currently represented on the Rehoboth Local Authority Council by its secretary-general Martin G. Dentlinger and Chairperson Jan J. van Wyk. The UPM also has a seat on the

municipality, where it is represented by Mr. Andries Bezuidenhout. The United People's Movement, despite the financial difficulties and other challenges, gained one seat in parliament in the

2014 Namibian general election General elections were held in Namibia on 28 November 2014, although early voting took place in foreign polling stations and for seagoing personnel on 14 November. The elections were the first on the African continent to use electronic voting.W ...

after gaining 6,353 votes (0.71%). National chairperson Jan van Wyk, who has served the party for four years in the Rehoboth Town Council, represented the UPM in Parliament. The party did not contest the subsequent elections in 2019. The party contested in the

2024 Namibian General election General elections were held in Namibia to elect a new president and members of the National Assembly. Initially scheduled on 27 November 2024, these were later extended in some areas to 30 November due to poor planning. Opposition parties decri ...

but was unable to win a seat in the

Parliament of Namibia The Parliament of Namibia is the national legislature of Namibia. It is a bicameral legislature consists of two houses: the National Council of Namibia, National Council (upper house) and the National Assembly of Namibia, National Assembly (lowe ...

as it only received 2,143 votes (0.20%) of the national vote.

References

Political parties established in 2010 2010 establishments in Namibia Rehoboth, Namibia Political parties in Namibia Political parties of minorities in Namibia {{Namibia-party-stub