Oshakati West

Oshakati West is an electoral constituency in the Oshana Region of Namibia. It contains the western parts of the town of Oshakati. The constituency had 20,015 inhabitants in 2004^[1] and 15,120 registered voters in 2020^[update].^[2]

Oshakati West constituency (red) in the Oshana Region (yellow)

Oshakati West was created in 1998. Following a recommendation of the Second Delimitation Commission of Namibia, and in preparation of the 1998 general election, the old Oshakati Constituency was split into Oshakati East and Oshakati West.^[3] The Okatana River separates the two constituencies.^[4]

Politics

Oshakati is traditionally a stronghold of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) party. In the 2004 regional election SWAPO candidate Aram Martin received 5,025 of the 5,271 votes cast.^[5] Martin was reelected in the 2010 regional elections with 5,156 votes. He defeated challengers Martha Lukolo of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP, 243 votes), Sarastina Ishidhimba of the Congress of Democrats (CoD, 70 votes), Scholastika Iiyambo of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA, 62 votes) and Ndamononghenda Ndahalaouwa Nakale of the South West Africa National Union (SWANU, 22 votes).^[6]

The SWAPO candidate also won the 2015 regional elections. Johannes Andreas won with 4,775 votes, far ahead of Linus Tobias (DTA) with 253 votes, the only opposition candidate.^[7] In the 2020 regional election former councillor Aram Martin (SWAPO) was contesting again and won, albeit by a much smaller margin. He obtained 3,323 votes, followed by Fanuel Henok of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, with 1,309 votes. Independent candidate Paulus Paulus gained 439 votes, and Linus Tobias of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM, the new name of the DTA), obtained 219.^[2]

References

1. Constituencies of Namibia, 2004
2. "Regional Council 2020 Election Results". Interactive map. Electoral Commission of Namibia. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
3. "Re-division of certain regions into constituencies: Regional Councils Act, 1992" (pdf). Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia. No. 1940. Government of Namibia. 31 August 1998. pp. 12–13.
4. Kadhikwa, Pendapawa (13 September 2011). "Oshakati to deepen river". The Namibian. p. 1. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012.
5. "Electoral Act, 1992: Notification of Result of General Election for Regional Councils" (pdf). Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia. No. 3366. Government of Namibia. 3 January 2005. p. 7.
6. Election results from Electoral Commission of Namibia
7. "Regional Council Election Results 2015". Electoral Commission of Namibia. 3 December 2015. p. 2. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

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