Oil and gas-rich Namibia is set to have its first female head of state after Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwa of the ruling SWAPO party won the presidential election. However, her main rival, Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC),

Across southern Africa, political parties that have led their countries since the end of colonialism have ceded power to the opposition in recent months. Namibia bucked the trend.

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) has been elected as the first female president of Namibia.

Ndaitwah, from the governing South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo), looks set to become Namibia's first female president with more than 90% of the votes from last week's disputed election now counted.

Namibia's Vice President and SWAPO presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah gestures after casting her vote in the elections in Windhoek, Namibia, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Noah Tjijenda/File Photo WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibia's ruling SWAPO party led both the presidential and parliamentary races on Tuesday,

Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was a member of the country's underground independence movement in the 1970s.

Namibia will have its first female leader after Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah wins the presidential election.

"The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability," the Reuters news agency quotes Nandi-Ndaitwah as saying once the outcome had been announced. Swapo has been in power in the large but sparsely populated southern African country since independence in 1990.