National Council (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.^[3]

National Council
Type
Type	Upper House of the Parliament of Namibia
History
Founded	23 February 1993[1]
Leadership
Chairperson	Lukas Sinimbo Muha, SWAPO since 15 December 2020[2]
Deputy Chairperson	Victoria Kauma, SWAPO since 9 December 2019
Structure
Seats	42
Political groups	Government (28)   SWAPO (28) Official opposition (6)   LPM (6) Other parties (8)   PDM (2)   IPC (2)   UDF (2)   NUDO (1)   Independent (1)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Voting system	Indirect election by Regional Councils
Last election	25 November 2020
Meeting place
National Council Building, Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia
Website
Parliament of Namibia

The 42 National Council members are indirectly elected by regional councils for a term of five years.^[4] Each of the 14 regional councils chooses three of its members to serve on the National Council.^[5] The last regional council elections were held on 25 November 2020.

Political party distribution in the current^[update] National Council is as follows:^[6]

• South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) - 28 seats
• Landless People's Movement (LPM) - 6 seats
• Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) - 2 seats
• United Democratic Front (UDF) - 2 seats
• Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) - 2 seats
• National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) - 1 seat
• Independent - 1 seat

The National Council meets in the capital Windhoek in the National Council Building next to the Tintenpalast. The chairperson as of December 2020 is Lukas Muha.

Election results

Political Party	Election Year
	1992	1998	2004	2010	2015	2020
South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO)	19	21	24	24	40	28
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM)	06	04	01	01	01	02
United Democratic Front (UDF)	01	01	01	01	-	02
National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO)	-	-	-	-	01	01
Landless People's Movement (LPM)	-	-	-	-	-	06
Independent Patriots for Change (IPC)	-	-	-	-	-	02
Independent candidates	-	-	-	-	-	01
Total	26	26	26	26	42	42

See also

Tintenpalast, the former meeting place of the National Council

• National Assembly of Namibia - the lower chamber of Parliament
• History of Namibia
• Legislative Branch
• List of Chairpersons of the National Council of Namibia
• List of national legislatures

References

1. "National Council". Archived from the original on 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
2. http://www.parliament.gov.na/index.php/component/content/article?layout=edit&id=495
3. "History". www.parliament.na.
4. "Namibia". New Parline: the IPU’s Open Data Platform (beta). July 5, 2018.
5. Quadri, Maryam Omolara; Thomas, Erika K (2018). "Women and political participation in Namibia and Nigeria: a comparative analysis of women in elective positions" (PDF). Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. 7 (2). University of Namibia: 6–9. ISSN 2026-7215.
6. Iikela, Sakeus (14 December 2020). "First independent to serve as MP". The Namibian. p. 3.