By: Justicia Shipena
Opposition political parties say they are interested in forming a coalition to defeat the ruling Swapo party in 2024.
This comes after Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) president Mike Kavekotora, this past weekend, said that coalition talks are on the table with other parties ahead of the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) secretary-general Manuel Ngaringombe says that since 2015, the party had approached different political parties about a coalition.
“Those efforts did not bear any fruits,” he said.
Ngaringombe said should there be coalition discussions in the country, PDM will be willing to partake, listen and be on board.
“As long as we discuss the main principles issues affecting the country. Yes, PDM will be open to such discussions,” he said.
Speaking to The Villager on Friday, newly elected Swanu president Evalistus Kaaronda said his party is interested in any mechanism, coalition, and political alliance to defeat Swapo.
“Swanu would be interested in anything that would help uproot the evil that Swapo has brought us,” said Kaaronda.
Nudo’s Joseph Kauandenge said the party is unaware of any ongoing coalition talks.
Kauandenge added that Nudo is undoubtedly interested in getting on board should there be any.
“Because our political landscape has shown us that we waste so much come 2024 elections because of our interest as political leaders and selfishness,” he said.
He stated that many want to be the prominent leaders of our various parties. At the same time, they know that being fragmented and divided makes it easy for the Swapo party to win elections and constituencies and retain their majority in parliament.
“If we can only get together as opposition parties, I assure you we will be able to force Swapo into a coalition, to have a coalition government,” he adds.
He said talks of the coalition are nothing new.
However, he adds that most leaders cannot think first about the people and second about themselves.
“They first think about themselves, the position, titles before thinking about people on the ground.”
NEFF’s deputy leader Kalimbo Iipumbu said the party did not meet to discuss a coalition.
Iipumbu said he thinks it is a good move if people want to defeat the regime.
“They need to come together and come up with a strategy that they use to make sure that they can take over leadership and administration of government,” he said.
He further said that political party parties must prioritise the needs of the people.
“If we are to come together, we need to make sure we leave away our egos and position ambitions and make sure that whoever finds themselves in the position to serve the people should do it to the benefit of the Namibian people.”
When The Villager reached out to UDF president Apius Auchab, he said no one on forming a coalition government ever consulted him.
Hence, he said he couldn’t comment on the issue.
“I never spoke with anybody who wants to form a coalition; everything depends on the consultations that are going on and what is on the table,” said Auchab.
LPM BOOTS OUT COALITION IDEA
Meanwhile, the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has said it is currently only focusing on its party agenda.
LPM deputy leader Henny Seibeb said coalition talks are not possible with the party at the moment.
“We wouldn’t be interested in such talks for now because we must determine what programs these people have,” said Seibeb.
According to him, one cannot only want to defeat Swapo without a program, hence he said the ideas must come before embarking on it.
“What is the agenda that we must put forth? You need to have a strong program because Swapo itself is also a strong program. It is a ruling party. So, if you want to remove the ruling party, you must have a strong program of ideas agenda.”
He added that LPM would be interested in the agenda points for the coalition before the personalities. “For now, LPM concentrates on its agenda,” said Seibeb.
POLITICAL ANALYST LEVEL COALITION TALKS PREMATURE
Analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah says he does not think the currently existing political parties will be able to form a coalition.
He added that a coalition should not only be based on defeating Swapo.
“A coalition must be based on ideology and philosophy and program of actions to improve and develop the country,” he said.
In this light, Kamwanyah thinks it is a wrong approach for political parties to form a coalition to defeat Swapo.
“I think that is not the right way to do it. The agenda must necessitate that the partners in that coalition have a mutual agreement,” he stressed.
However, he said there is a possibility for a coalition government come 2024.
“We might have a situation where Swapo still will win but not enough to govern as a majority party in parliament. In that case, Swapo might seek to or approach other political parties to form a sort of coalition government,” he explained.
Kamwanyah said there might also be a situation where there is no clear winner in parliament.
“The opposition parties might form that coalition. I think that is the thinking coming from RDP,” he said.
Another political analyst Henning Melber says that the Namibian electoral system and talk about a coalition are premature until the election.
“Only once you know the allocation of seats you can start discussing coalition politics, and only if the coalition would be able to amount to more than half of the seats,” he said.
He added that as long as Swapo maintains an absolute majority of votes, it will remain the party forming a government.
“Only once no party holds such a majority does coalition talks to form a government make sense.”
According to Melber, a coalition policy among opposition parties does not mean that some dissolve as a party to join another party.
“They all will retain their party and campaign for votes. After all, form party leaders, these are their empires, as small as these might be,” he said.
Additionally, he said the presidential elections are a different matter, and it could be possible that all coalition parties agree on one candidate to challenge the presidential candidate nominated by Swapo.
“But this would require that only one candidate would stand for election representing all opposition parties. Given the rivalries both inside and among parties in the opposition and the egos, some of these party leaders have, seeing is believing. One does not require prophetic skills to predict that this won’t happen,” he said.
Hence, he said it would be unlikely that such a candidate would be supported by all in the electorate not voting for Swapo and garner more votes than the Swapo candidate.
Melber added that considering this constellation, any talks about a coalition of opposition parties ahead of the 2024 elections are irrelevant and pie in the sky.
“A coalition is based on the election results and will depend on the number of seats the parties each manage to seize. And then the real negotiations start: who holds which influence in such a coalition?” he questions.
He also questioned what coalition parties want to consider at this moment in time and whether they, in principle, are willing to give coalition politics a thought.
“Declaring as part of the election campaign, the willingness to enter coalition politics will not change a single vote favouring a specific party.”
Melber concluded that parties should focus on their political programme and the list of candidates, to convince the voters that they deserve their vote.
“And then see what the outcome is and how to best use the result. Anything discussed now on coalition politics is a waste of time.”
Kavekotora, in an interview with The Villager last week, had stated that a coalition amongst oppositions is imperative if they are to defeat the ruling party, adding that there are talks of a confederacy amongst opposition parties.
“There are talks for possible coalition formation, but the core objective is to better Namibian lives. Swapo failed to deliver to the expectation of the majority of Namibian people, our economy is not performing, and service delivery is down the drain. The Namibian people deserve better, and the only way is for us to form a formidable coalition to make sure we fight and achieve what the Namibian people have been looking for, a better life,” he had said.
He had also hoped that most of our political party leaders would acknowledge that a coalition is needed for them to deliver to the expectations of the Namibian people.
