Parliamentary elections were held in Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 between 7 and 11 November 1989. These elections were for the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which, upon independence in March 1990, became the National Assembly of Namibia

National Assembly of Namibia

The National Assembly of Namibia is the lower chamber of the country's bicameral Parliament. It has a total of 78 members. 72 members are directly elected through a system of party-list proportional representation and serve five-year terms. Six additional members are appointed by the President.The...

.

Background

The elections were facilitated by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, after the withdrawal of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n troops from South West Africa

South West Africa

South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....

 (present day Namibia) after the 1988 Tripartite Accords. The UN established the United Nations Transition Assistance Group

United Nations Transition Assistance Group

The United Nations Transition Assistance Group was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed from April 1989 to March 1990 in Namibia to monitor the peace process and elections there. Namibia had been occupied by South Africa since 1915, first under a League of Nations mandate and later...

 and through its resolutions 629

United Nations Security Council Resolution 629

United Nations Security Council Resolution 629, adopted unanimously on January 16, 1989, after recalling resolutions 431 , 435 and 628 , the Council noted that the parties to the Brazzaville Protocol agreed that April 1, 1989 be established as the date of the South African withdrawal from Angola...

, 632

United Nations Security Council Resolution 632

United Nations Security Council Resolution 632, adopted unanimously on February 16, 1989, after reaffirming resolutions 431 , 435 and 629 , the Council endorsed a report by the Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar concering the United Nations plan for Namibia, reiterating its legal authority...

, 640

United Nations Security Council Resolution 640

United Nations Security Council Resolution 640, adopted unanimously on August 29, 1989, after reaffirming resolutions 431 , 435 and 629 and 632 , the Council reminded all parties involved in the situation in Namibia implement Resolution 435 of September 29, 1978.The Council went on to demand the...

 and 643

United Nations Security Council Resolution 643

United Nations Security Council Resolution 643, adopted unanimously on October 31, 1989, after reaffirming resolutions 435 and 629 , 632 and 640 , as well as noting a report by the Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the Council expressed its full intention to implement Resolution 435 of...

 in 1989, implemented the United Nations plan for Namibia in 435

United Nations Security Council Resolution 435

United Nations Security Council Resolution 435, adopted on September 29, 1978, put forward proposals for a cease-fire and UN-supervised elections in South African-controlled South-West Africa which ultimately led to the independence of Namibia...

 (1978) to help secure free and fair elections, and eventually, the country's independence.

701,483 people registered to vote, with 680,788 casting votes, equating to a voter turnout of 97%.

Results

Parties	Votes	%	Seats
South West African People's Organization	384,567	57.33	41
Democratic Turnhalle Alliance	191,532	28.55	21
United Democratic Front United Democratic Front (Namibia) The United Democratic Front is a political party in Namibia. Justus Garoëb is the party's leader.-1989:The UDF received 37,874 votes in the 1989 election, which elected members to the Constituent Assembly of Namibia. The Constituent Assembly elected the first President and wrote Namibia's...	37,874	5.65	4
Action Christian National Action Christian National Action Christian National is a White nationalist political party in Namibia. It used to be aligned with the National Party of South Africa. The party's chairman is Jan de Wet....	23,728	4.10	3
National Patriotic Front National Patriotic Front (Namibia) -History:It was formed in March 1989 at the initiative of Moses Katjioungua as an alliance of the Action National Settlement, South West African National Union and Caprivi African National Union political parties....	10,693	1.59	1
Federal Convention of Namibia Federal Convention of Namibia The Federal Convention of Namibia was a political party based in Rehoboth, Namibia. It was founded in 1988 by Hans Diergaardt and led by him until his death in 1998. After that, Kephes Conradie took over the leadership of the party. It claimed to represent Namibia's coloured population...	10,452	1.56	1
Namibia National Front Namibia National Front The Namibia National Front was an alliance of moderate parties in Namibia. It was formed in 1977 as a merger of the Namibia National Convention and the Namibia National Council....	5,344	0.80	1
SWAPO Democrats SWAPO Democrats The SWAPO Democrats was a political party formed from a break within the South West Africa People's Organization. Formed in Sweden on 10 June 1978, the party was led by former leading SWAPO members Andreas Shipanga , Kenneth Abrahams, Ottilie Abrahams , and Emil Appolus was formed in response to a...	3,161	0.47	0
Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice The Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice was a political party in Namibia.It was founded in 1982 through a split in the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance...	2,495	0.37	0
National Democratic Party National Democratic Party (Namibia) The National Democratic Party was a political party in Namibia. It was formed in 1973 as the Ovamboland Independence Party by Silas Ipumbu. It took the name NDP to contest the elections to the Ovambo Legislative Assembly. The party's base was amongst the Ovambo people....	984	0.15	0
Invalid/blank votes	9,958	-	-
Total	680,788	100	72
Source: African Elections Database

Aftermath

Following the election, SWAPO supporters celebrated across Windhoek

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...

, especially in the segregated suburb of Katutura

Katutura

Katutura is a township of Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia. Katutura was created in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population from the Old Location, which afterwards was developed into the suburb Hochland Park. Sam Nujoma Stadium, built in 2005, is located within Katutura...

. Dirk Mudge

Dirk Mudge

Dirk Frederik Mudge is a Namibian farmer and former politician. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly and first National Assembly from 1989-1994. He broke with the National Party and sided with the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia...

, chairman of the DTA, pledged to work with the SWAPO government in moving towards independence and national development. Support for the DTA and UDF was strong in the former bantustans including Hereroland

Hereroland

Hereroland was a bantustan in South West Africa , intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Herero people. It was set up in 1968 and self-government was granted two years later....

 and Damaraland

Damaraland

Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of what later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bounded roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, and Windhoek in the south....

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External links

• "Namibian Voters Deny Total Power to SWAPO," by Michael Johns, The Wall Street Journal
  The Wall Street Journal
  The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
  
  , November 19, 1989.