The United Democratic Front is a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 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...

. Justus Garoëb

Justus Garoëb

Justus Garoëb is a Namibian traditional leader and politician. He became Chief of Damara in 1982 and founded the United Democratic Front in 1989. He was a staunch opponent of South African rule and led the oppositional Namibia National Front in the late 1970s.Garoëb was born in Omaruru, Erongo...

 is the party's leader.

1989

The UDF received 37,874 votes (5.65%) in the 1989 election

Namibian parliamentary election, 1989

Parliamentary elections were held in Namibia 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.-Background:...

, which elected members to the Constituent Assembly of Namibia

Members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia

Below is a list of members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which became the National Assembly of Namibia upon independence in March 1990. Individual members were selected by political parties voted for in the 1989 election, the first multi-racial, universal franchise elections in Namibian...

. The Constituent Assembly elected the first President and wrote Namibia's constitution. From the UDF, President Justus Garoëb

Justus Garoëb

Justus Garoëb is a Namibian traditional leader and politician. He became Chief of Damara in 1982 and founded the United Democratic Front in 1989. He was a staunch opponent of South African rule and led the oppositional Namibia National Front in the late 1970s.Garoëb was born in Omaruru, Erongo...

, Reggie Diergaardt, Eric Biwa

Eric Biwa

Eric Biwa is a former Namibian politician with the Patriotic Union Movement, a party which was a member of the United Democratic Front .-Pre-independence:...

 and Theophelus Soroseb were chosen for the assembly.

1994

In 1994, electoral support for the party diminished in both relative and total support. The party received 13,309 total votes (2.72% of the national vote). Two UDF members were elected to the National Assembly (Garoëb and Biwa).

1999

Following the 1999 parliamentary election, the UDF formed a coalition with the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) so that the two parties could together be the Official Opposition despite the Congress of Democrats

Congress of Democrats

The Congress of Democrats is a political party in Namibia, led by Ben Ulenga. It is an opposition party represented in the National Assembly.The party is an observer of the Socialist International.- 2004 elections :...

 receiving the second highest number of votes.

2004

In the parliamentary election

Namibian general election, 2004

General elections were held in Namibia on 15 and 16 November 2004 to elect the President and National Assembly. The National Assembly election resulted in a landslide win for SWAPO, which won 55 of the 78 seats with over 75% of the vote. SWAPO's candidate for president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, won the...

 held on November 15 and 16, 2004, the party won 3.5% of popular votes and 3 out of 78 seats 1. More than half (16,081 of 29,336 total votes) of the party's electoral support came from Khomas Region

Khomas Region

Khomas is one of the thirteen regions of Namibia. It contains the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superior transportation infrastructure. It has well-developed economical, financial, and trade sectors. Khomas Region occupies 4.5% of the land area of Namibia but has the highest...

, Kunene Region

Kunene Region

Kunene is one of the thirteen regions of Namibia and home to the Himba ethnic group. Compared to the rest of Namibia, it is relatively underdeveloped...

 and Otjozondjupa Region, with the single largest total coming from Kunene. The party again retained its single seat in the National Council in 2004. The UDF MPs elected in 2004 were Justus Garoëb

Justus Garoëb

Justus Garoëb is a Namibian traditional leader and politician. He became Chief of Damara in 1982 and founded the United Democratic Front in 1989. He was a staunch opponent of South African rule and led the oppositional Namibia National Front in the late 1970s.Garoëb was born in Omaruru, Erongo...

, Gustaphine Tjombe

Gustaphine Tjombe

Gustaphine Tjombe is a Namibian politician. A member of the United Democratic Front, Tjombe was a member of the National Assembly from 2003-2010. She was sworn into the National Assembly to replace Eric Biwa, who had resigned. She was elected in 2004 as part of the UDF's list in the country's...

 and Michael Goreseb

Michael Goreseb

Michael Bantu Goreseb is a Namibian politician. A member of the United Democratic Front, Goreseb has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia since the 2004 parliamentary election as well as member of the UDF's Central Committee during the same time...

.

2009

In the November 2009 general election, Justus Garoëb once again ran for election to Namibia's presidency with the UDF; he received 19,258 total votes, representing 2.37% of all votes and finished in fifth place. The party earned 2 seats in the National Assembly, down from 3 in 2004. The two seats went to party leader Justus Garoëb and Simson Tjongarero.

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.