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 country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

(self-described "unity movement") based in

Rehoboth, Namibia Rehoboth is a town in central Namibia just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Located 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of the Namibian capital Windhoek, Rehoboth lies on a high elevation plateau with several natural hot-water springs. It receives ...

. 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 the 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 ...

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

The Namibian ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, 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 24,100 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 ...

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 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.

References

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