The SWAPO Democrats, also known as SWAPO-D, was a political party formed from a break within the

South West Africa People's Organization The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

in 1978. Formed in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 10 June 1978, the party was led by former leading SWAPO members

Andreas Shipanga Andreas Zack Shipanga (26 October 1931 – 10 May 2012) was a Namibian politician known for the " Shipanga Rebellion", a movement within SWAPO that sought to elect a new leadership and whose followers were in response detained without trial. Impr ...

(President),

Kenneth Abrahams Kenneth Godfrey Abrahams (1936–2017) was a Namibian activist and physician. He was born in Cape Town and studied at the University of Cape Town. Abrahams later earned his MD in Stockholm. He became active in SWAPO politics in 1960 along with ...

Ottilie Abrahams Ottilie Grete Abrahams (2 September 19372 July 2018) was a Namibian educator, activist, and politician. Personal Abrahams was born on 2 September 1937 in the Old Location township outside of Windhoek. Abrahams was the daughter of Otto Schimming ...

(Secretary-General), and

Emil Appolus Emil Appolus (10 March 1935, in Vaalgras, ǁKaras Region - 28 May 2005, in Keetmanshoop) was a Namibian politician and businessperson. Living in Cape Town, Appolus was part of early discussions on Namibian independence. In 1957, Appolus becam ...

in response to a major party split within SWAPO which resulted in the forced detention of Shipanga and Solomon Mfifma during the 1975-76 SWAPO crisis, also known as the "Shipanga Rebellion". SWAPO-D were generally seen by SWAPO as traitors and collaborators with the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

regime. However, they were still following a comparable political course, boycotting the 1975–1977

Turnhalle Constitutional Conference The Turnhalle Constitutional Conference was a conference held in Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost e ...

and the resulting 1978 legislative elections. In the mid-1980s SWAPO-D joined the

Transitional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

, in which all parties swore an allegiance to the Republic of South Africa. In the

1989 election The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * 1 ...

s, SWAPO-D failed to win a seat, obtaining 3,161 votes and was disbanded in 1991.

References

Defunct political parties in Namibia SWAPO Political parties established in 1978 Political parties disestablished in 1991 {{Namibia-party-stub