To the ballot box

“Are you voting in this year’s parliamentary/national assembly election?”

If you are Namibian and are of legal age and fulfill all the legal requirements (registered voter), then the answer should be a simple yes or no, not a forlorn look at the sky and a shrug of the shoulders. However, when most young Namibians contemplate their choices at the ballot box in the upcoming national assembly elections, they look up at whichever God they pray to as if to ask, “Why have you forsaken us.”

The choices are not inspiring, at all. It is either stick or twist?

Stick? The devil we know: the ruling SWAPO party has been in power for 29 years, they are the reason there is ‘peace’ and ‘stability’ as they state at every rally. By the standards of a post independent African country, Namibia under the SWAPO government is doing okay. Free primary and secondary education, great environment for investors, reasonably stable economy (tourism, agriculture, mining), good infrastructure (mostly), and a social net for the elderly and vulnerable. I could go on and on and on and on (I could read you the whole manifesto). SWAPO has done okay, as they conveniently remind us a few months before national elections. Oh, I almost forgot, we have FREE and FAIR elections every five years. High five SWAPO led government.

Twist? Okay is not good enough anymore. Under the SWAPO led government Namibia has run into rough economic seas, the government’s default reaction was to borrow and borrow heavily to stimulate the economy. Well, it hasn’t turned out so well, the economy has been in recession for almost two years, the construction industry which was one of the most vibrant has floundered as the government has stopped its significant infrastructure outlay. Youth Unemployment stands at 34%, the housing backlog has not moved for closed to ten years, and now public hospitals have run out of medication (even paracetamol). I could go on and on and on and on (I could read you a whole article on how much money has been looted from the government). 

Twist? The logical option would be to vote for the opposition right? Currently the Popular democratic movement (PDM) is the official opposition and they have made a ruckus about every single failure of the government (as they should), under McHenry Veenani they have been the most vocal opposition party for decades (especially on social issues, and on corruption). However, no Namibian opposition party has any experience running a country since SWAPO have never been dethroned, no one knows what having an opposition party in charge will be like, hence the fear of the unknown. Other than making noise the opposition parties have not inspired any confidence that they can do better than the ruling party.

So technically when it comes to the national assembly elections we are fucked either way. If we stick, we sign up for 5 more years of what we are currently not satisfied with:  a party ruling with 2/3 majority that amends the constitution when it will benefit its upper hierarchy (expansion of parliament, fish quotas) but not to directly benefit the electorate. If we twist, we enter new uncharted waters with a captain who has never steered a ship before, it’s enough to give a young person anxiety.

If elections are a contest of ideas, then perhaps abstention is the only choice, if the process really doesn’t deliver than why partake in it? However, the thing with representative democracy is that when you opt not to vote, you leave your destiny in the hands of the uninformed and the those who vote purely to sustain the status quo because it benefits them, which then defeats the purpose of abstention as a form of protest. Not voting is not rebellion, it is playing along. At a certain point I was considering what a million people did in Egypt: create a new box on the ballot, write Mo Salah next to it and tick. Which I now realize is impossible because we use Electronic Voting Machines and they come preloaded with options for registered parties. 

Your attention span is probably waning, so let me make my final point. Elections are not a contest of ideas; they are a renegotiation of the terms under which an electorate in a democracy wish to be governed. As a young person the current terms do not benefit me, a party with 2/3 majority in parliament that can’t tackle unemployment, corruption and accountability, and service delivery should not get my vote. The terms must change; you can’t reward a party that won’t legalize abortion with another five years to continue selective policy making. With unemployment amongst young people making up 50 % of all unemployment figures, with 60 000 graduates without work, with no minister or CEO taken to task for over a billion dollars in missing government funds, the current situation cannot continue. As a young person who is tired and frustrated, I am doing the only thing I can do, I am going to vote wisely. I am taking my frustrations to the ballot box. 

FYI: General elections will be held in Namibia on 27 November 2019. The elections will be the second in Namibia to use electronic voting. A total of ten candidates are expected to run for the presidency, whilst 16 political parties are expected to contest the National Assembly elections.