Coalition fever in the air
The official opposition and a smaller opposition party have formed an alliance to fight the November elections as a united front.
The official opposition Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has formed a last-minute alliance with a significantly smaller party, the United People's Movement (UPM), to strengthen its fight against the might of the ruling Swapo Party.
PDM leader McHenry Venaani yesterday emphasised that there has been no better time to break Swapo's two-thirds majority in parliament. Venaani also rejected talk from other political parties that his “top dog” mentality has cost him other political partnerships.
“I could not have insisted if I initiated the process to bring all on board. I was never part of the negotiations to have insisted. What we asked was synchronised manifestos of all parties, nothing came of it,” he said. This marks the first since independence that two political parties have formed a coalition. UPM president and former DTA member of parliament Piet Junius said it only made sense for political parties who share striking similarities to form coalitions.
“It is an exceptional highlight of my half-a-century-long career that political parties are uniting to fight against domination,” he said.
PDM leader McHenry Venaani yesterday said it is important for political parties to move beyond self-centred politics and instead clinch deals for the benefit of the Namibian nation.
“We have taken firm decisions. There is no perfect deal but we will stand as one party under one banner. We will field one presidential candidate and one list. PDM will be the leading party but the UPM will still exist,” he said.
He added that they have worked out a formula around the party funding as well as the parliamentary seats.
This coalition follows a visit by Venaani to Kenya to learn about coalition politics from that country's politicians, after which a group of Namibian opposition parties established a technical working committee to discuss and investigate the advantages and disadvantages of coalitions.
However, some smaller opposition parties opted out of these talks with PDM after they had reached a deadlock after Venaani reportedly insisted to be the overall leader of the coalition.
At the time Mike Kavekotora of the Rally for Progress and Democracy (RDP) told Namibian Sun that coalition formation was the right thing to do and opposition parties that are so fragmented and thinly spread won't work.
However Kavekotora yesterday said parties have realised that time is not on their side and that they would have to play fast.
“We are still mulling with the idea, in fact RDP is planning to have a press conference next week to announce something like this with some other political parties,” he said. In the past Kavekotora has said that there are no significant ideological differences between the various parties, with the exception with Swanu, which is a socialist party. At the time the secretary-general (SG) of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), Joseph Kauandenge, who represented his party on the technical working committee, also blamed PDM of dictating to other opposition parties.
“Because apparently he (Venaani) is the leader of the official opposition and should dictate, but if you come to a coalition agreement you set aside your titles and you discuss openly to determine who is better suited to become the leader of the coalition,” he said.
When Namibian Sun spoke to him yesterday, Kauandenge said there was no more time for parties to talk about coalition and his party certainly was not considering that now.
Status quo
The ruling party Swapo currently has 77 seats in parliament; the PDM, the official opposition, has five seats; followed by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) have three seats.
The All People's Party (APP), the United Democratic Front (UDF), National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) and the Workers' Revolutionary Party (WRP) each have two seats in parliament while the Republican Party (RP), South West Africa National Union (Swanu) and United People's Movement (UPM) have only one seat each.
JEMIMA BEUKES
PDM leader McHenry Venaani yesterday emphasised that there has been no better time to break Swapo's two-thirds majority in parliament. Venaani also rejected talk from other political parties that his “top dog” mentality has cost him other political partnerships.
“I could not have insisted if I initiated the process to bring all on board. I was never part of the negotiations to have insisted. What we asked was synchronised manifestos of all parties, nothing came of it,” he said. This marks the first since independence that two political parties have formed a coalition. UPM president and former DTA member of parliament Piet Junius said it only made sense for political parties who share striking similarities to form coalitions.
“It is an exceptional highlight of my half-a-century-long career that political parties are uniting to fight against domination,” he said.
PDM leader McHenry Venaani yesterday said it is important for political parties to move beyond self-centred politics and instead clinch deals for the benefit of the Namibian nation.
“We have taken firm decisions. There is no perfect deal but we will stand as one party under one banner. We will field one presidential candidate and one list. PDM will be the leading party but the UPM will still exist,” he said.
He added that they have worked out a formula around the party funding as well as the parliamentary seats.
This coalition follows a visit by Venaani to Kenya to learn about coalition politics from that country's politicians, after which a group of Namibian opposition parties established a technical working committee to discuss and investigate the advantages and disadvantages of coalitions.
However, some smaller opposition parties opted out of these talks with PDM after they had reached a deadlock after Venaani reportedly insisted to be the overall leader of the coalition.
At the time Mike Kavekotora of the Rally for Progress and Democracy (RDP) told Namibian Sun that coalition formation was the right thing to do and opposition parties that are so fragmented and thinly spread won't work.
However Kavekotora yesterday said parties have realised that time is not on their side and that they would have to play fast.
“We are still mulling with the idea, in fact RDP is planning to have a press conference next week to announce something like this with some other political parties,” he said. In the past Kavekotora has said that there are no significant ideological differences between the various parties, with the exception with Swanu, which is a socialist party. At the time the secretary-general (SG) of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), Joseph Kauandenge, who represented his party on the technical working committee, also blamed PDM of dictating to other opposition parties.
“Because apparently he (Venaani) is the leader of the official opposition and should dictate, but if you come to a coalition agreement you set aside your titles and you discuss openly to determine who is better suited to become the leader of the coalition,” he said.
When Namibian Sun spoke to him yesterday, Kauandenge said there was no more time for parties to talk about coalition and his party certainly was not considering that now.
Status quo
The ruling party Swapo currently has 77 seats in parliament; the PDM, the official opposition, has five seats; followed by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) have three seats.
The All People's Party (APP), the United Democratic Front (UDF), National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) and the Workers' Revolutionary Party (WRP) each have two seats in parliament while the Republican Party (RP), South West Africa National Union (Swanu) and United People's Movement (UPM) have only one seat each.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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