Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his ruling South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) retained a runaway lead in the nation’s fifth post-independence elections with almost half the ballots counted.
SWAPO won 76.6 percent of the 393,074 certified votes from 44 of 107 regional offices, figures released by the Electoral Commission of Namibia at 7:51am yesterday showed. The Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), formed in 2007 by former SWAPO members, was second with 10.6 percent, while the United Democratic Front had 3.05 percent.
Results from the presidential race showed Pohamba securing 77.82 percent of the 397,485 certified ballots cast and RDP leader Hidipo Hamutenya, a one-time foreign minister, followed with 10.32 percent of the vote so far.
About 1.18 million people registered to vote in the elections last Friday and Saturday. Opposition parties say the election was marred by irregularities and that the slow release of the results may allow rigging. The commission has denied the allegation, and three African observer missions have declared the balloting free and fair.
Namibia is the world’s largest producer of offshore diamonds, most of which are mined by Namdeb, a joint venture between the government and De Beers, the world’s No. 1 diamond company. The country is also Africa’s second-biggest producer of uranium, with mines operated by Paladin Energy Ltd and Rio Tinto Group, and has gold and zinc deposits.
In power since 1990, SWAPO won 55 of the 72 National Assembly seats in the previous elections in 2004.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not