Namibia's President Hage Geingob has named Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as his party's candidate for the 2024 elections.
The president called on SWAPO members to support Nandi-Ndaitwah in next years’ elections campaign.
“[Internal] Elections took place, we have the results that we are going to have one candidate only, that will be comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and we will campaign and we have a person who will lead us," Geingob noted.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, 70, is currently Namibia's deputy prime minister and SWAPO’s vice-president. From 2005 to 2010, she served as minister of information and broadcasting and, subsequently, minister of environment and tourism until a major cabinet reshuffle in December 2012, when she was appointed foreign minister.
During Geingobs’ presidency, Nandi-Ndaitwah was appointed deputy prime minister and has served as minister of international relations and cooperation.
Geingob is set to resign in 2024 after serving two terms. He was first elected in November 2014.
SWAPO has been a leading Namibian force since its independence in 1990, and it is still the country’s biggest political party.
According to reports, the party’s popularity has declined due to resentment over unemployment and alleged corruption incidents connected to senior party officials.
The party lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority during the last general elections in 2019, as well as control over key municipalities, including the capital Windhoek, two port towns – Walvis Bay and Swakopmund - and a number of regional councils.