The United Democratic Front (UDF) 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 political ideology ...
in
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...
.
Justus ǁGaroëb founded the party in 1989 and led it until 2013. He was succeeded by
Apius Auchab
Apius Auchab (born 3 October 1959) is a Namibian politician who has served as the president of the United Democratic Front since 2013. He has been a Member of the National Assembly since 2015. He was previously the party's vice president from 200 ...
.
History
The United Democratic Front is a political party that is most widely supported by
Damara people
The Damara, plural Damaran ( Khoekhoegowab: ǂNūkhoen, ''Black people'', german: Bergdamara, referring to their extended stay in hilly and mountainous sites, also called at various times the Daman or the Damaqua) are an ethnic group who mak ...
. Its roots are in the
Damara Council The Damara Council was a political party in Damaraland, a Bantustan in South West Africa (now Namibia). In 1977 a breakaway faction joined the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), while in 1989, the remainder of the DC was one of 8 political part ...
, an administrative body for the
Damaraland territory in
South West Africa
South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola ( Portuguese colony before ...
that in 1980 became a political party. The Damara Council in 1989 joined other parties in order to participate in the
first democratic elections in Namibia. The result of the merger was the United Democratic Front (UDF).
The founding members of the UDF were Justus ǁGaroëb, leader of the Damara Council, and
Reggie Diergaardt, leader of the
Labour Party. On 20 July 1989 the
Patriotic Unity Movement joined the UDF.
The UDF formed an alliance with a number of splinter parties prior to the 1989 election:
*
CANU-UDF, a wing of
CANU
Canu may refer to:
* Fabien Canu (born 1960), French judoka
* Ferdinand Canu (1863–1932), French paleontologist and author
* Gabriel Cânu (born 1981), Romanian former footballer
* Stéphane Canu (born 1968), French former footballer
* Yvonne C ...
, led by
George Mutwa
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
*
Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), led by
Attie Beukes Attie may refer to:
* Attie people (Attié)
** Attie language
People
*Alice Attie (born 1950), American visual artist
* Dotty Attie (born 1938), American artist, wife of David Attie and mother of Eli Attie
* Eli Attie, American politician, son of ...
,
Erica Beukes
Erica or ERICA may refer to:
* Erica (given name)
* ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus
* Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America
* ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game
* ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus
* Eric ...
, and
Werner Henry Mamugwe Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Ra ...
*
Caprivi Alliance Party
The Caprivi Alliance Party was a political party in Namibia. In September 1985, the party merged into the United Democratic Party. (CAP), led by
Gabriel Siseho
*
Original People's Party (OPP), led by
Theophelus Soroseb
*
Namibia National Independence Party (NNIP), led by
Rudolf Ngondo
*
Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM), led by
Eric Biwa
Eric Biwa (born 8 May 1953 in Vaalgras, ǁKaras Region) is a former Namibian politician with the Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM), a party which was a member of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Pre-independence
A former combatant in the Namib ...
.
Electoral history
Presidential elections
National Assembly elections
1989
The UDF received 37,874 votes (5.65%) in the 1989 election, which elected members to 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 dem ...
. The Constituent Assembly elected the first President and wrote Namibia's constitution. From the UDF, President
Justus ǁGaroëb,
Reggie Diergaardt,
Eric Biwa
Eric Biwa (born 8 May 1953 in Vaalgras, ǁKaras Region) is a former Namibian politician with the Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM), a party which was a member of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Pre-independence
A former combatant in the Namib ...
and
Theophelus Soroseb were chosen for the assembly.
1992
The UDF won one seat in the 1992 elections for the
National Council of Namibia
The National Council is the upper chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. It reviews bills passed by the lower chamber and makes recommendations for legislation of regional concern to the lower chamber.
The 42 National Council members are in ...
.
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 (ǁGaroëb and Biwa).
1998
The party retained its single seat in the National Council in 1998.
1999
Following the
1999 parliamentary election, the UDF formed a coalition with the
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 ...
(DTA) so that the two parties could together be the official opposition despite the
Congress of Democrats
The Congress of Democrats (CoD) is a Namibian opposition party without representation in the National Assembly and led by Ben Ulenga. It was established in 1999, prior to that year's general elections, and started off with a number of notabl ...
receiving the second highest number of votes.
2004
In the
parliamentary election held on November 15 and 16, 2004, the party won 3.5% of popular votes and 3 out of 78 seat
1 More than half (16,081 of 29,336 total votes) of the party's electoral support came from
Khomas Region
Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative unit. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superior trans ...
,
Kunene Region
Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains th ...
and
Otjozondjupa Region
Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters.
...
, with the single largest total coming from Kunene. The party again retained its single seat in the National Council in 2004.
2004 National Council Election
africanelections The UDF MPs elected in 2004 were Justus ǁGaroëb, 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 to 2010. She was sworn into the National Assembly to replace Eric Biwa
Eric Biwa (born 8 May 1953 in ...
and Michael Goreseb.
2009
In the November 2009 general election, Justus ǁGaroëb 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 ǁGaroëb and Simson Tjongarero.
References
External links
Reprint of "Namibian Voters Deny Total Power to SWAPO" by Michael Johns
''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', November 19, 1989.
{{Namibian political parties
Political parties in Namibia
Damara people
Political parties established in 1989
1989 establishments in South West Africa