Namibia votes in general elections

Thousands of polling stations opened across Namibia at 7 a.m. local time (0600 UTC) on Friday. The country's 1.2 million eligible voters must choose from among 16 political parties to fill roughly 96 seats in the National Assembly.

With current President Hifikepunya Pohamba stepping down after serving two terms, voters must also cast a ballot for one of the nine candidates vying for the post.

Ahead of the vote, the country's long-ruling party, the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) was confident it would clinch another victory and preserve its 75 percent majority in parliament.

"SWAPO is going to win. There is no 'if,' SWAPO is going to win," Namibian Foreign Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told news agency AFP.

Current Prime Minister Hage Geingob, also of SWAPO, hopes to take on the role as president.

The party came to power in 1990 after Namibia won independence from South Africa and has governed the mineral-rich country ever since.

Also notable in Friday's race was the widespread use of at nearly 4,000 electronic voting stations.

The opposition, which has reportedly suffered from a lack of campaign financing and, as a result, less coverage than SWAPO in the run-up to elections, went to the country's highest court, claiming e-voting could facilitate voter fraud. However, the high court in Windhoek dismissed the attempt to delay the elections earlier this week.

Although maintaining relative political stability over the past 24 years, SWAPO has been unable to curb the country's chronic poverty. An estimated 40 percent of Namibia's 2.2 million people live under the poverty line.

kms/shs (AP, AFP, dpa)