Populism, Electoral Democracy and the 2019 Presidential Election in Namibia

• Author: Kennedy Kariseb,Thomas Kasita
• DOI: 10.25159/2522-6800/8087
• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Date: 01 November 2021
• Pages: 1-22

Article

Southern African Public Law

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/8087

https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online), 2219-6412 (Print)

Volume 36 | Number 1 | 2021 | #8087 | 22 pages

© Unisa Press 2021

Populism, Electoral Democracy and the 2019

Presidential Election in Namibia

Kennedy Kariseb

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9888-0901

University of Namibia

karisebkennedy@gmail.com

Thomas Kasita

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2010-3969

University of Namibia

thomaskasita@gmail.com

Abstract

The last few decades have seen the revival of populism, both as an ideology and

praxis of political anatomy. This is no surprise given the realities that have

underscored the twenty-first century. Although momentous in the far west,

populism has somewhat revealed itself distinctly in sub-Saharan Africa with the

rise of socio-political movements and the use of populist rhetoric as a means of

electoral traction. An evident manifestation of populism in Africa has been

through elections, with populists using these democratic processes (or the

opportunities that come with such electoral processes) to get their messages

across to the electorate. An immediate consequence of this causality between

populism and electoral processes is the uneven changes in formerly settled

political establishments. Using the 2019 Namibian presidential election as a

matrix, particularly the populist alterations to Namibian politics brought about

by once presidential hopeful Panduleni Itula, Namibia’s first independent

presidential candidate, and the emerging social movements and their use of

populist rhetoric, this article seeks to analyse the impact of populism on

Namibia’s electoral democracy. The article argues that populism, at least as it

played out in the 2019 Namibian presidential election, serves as an indicator and

consequently as a determinant of the declining political hegemony of the South

West Africa People’s Organisation—the country’s leading liberation

movement.

Keywords: constitution; elections; populism; presidential election; Namibia; SWAPO

Kariseb and Kasita

2

Introduction

Compared to yesteryears, the last few decades have seen the revival of populism, both

as an ideology and as a praxis of political anatomy. This is no surprise given the realities

such as globalisation, liberalisation of markets, cognitive mobilisation of millennials,

etc. that have underscored the twenty-first century. In fact, populism has become an

inherent part of a new world order premised on neo-liberalism. Although relatively part

and parcel of twenty-first century politics, what constitutes populism is not always a

straightforward matter. It is, as Paul Taggart once put it rightly so, ‘one of the most

widely used but poorly understood political concepts of our time.’

1

Notwithstanding this

truism, populism is commonly viewed as a political ideology consisting of the ‘counter

position of the interests of a collectivity identified as “the people” against those of a

hegemonic elite, whose actions or inactions are antagonistic to “the people”.’

2

In this

regard, populism and those who foster this ideology presuppose a presumptuous

existence of an incompatible relationship between two entities: namely, ‘the people’ and

the ‘hegemonic elite’.

3

Whilst the capturing of international politics by populists has gained momentous

attention post 2016 with the emergence of political figures, predominantly in Western

democracies,

4

populism has somewhat revealed itself distinctly in sub-Saharan Africa

with the rise of socio-political movements and their use of populist rhetoric. An evident

matrix of populism in Africa has been through elections, with populists using these

democratic processes (or the opportunities that come with such electoral processes) to

get their messages across to the electorate. An immediate consequence of this

relationship between populism and electoral processes is the uneven changes in

formerly settled political (and electoral) outcomes.

The recently concluded presidential election in Namibia is a case in point that not only

evidence the causality between populism and electoral processes but also its impact on

1

Paul Taggart, ‘Populism and the Pathology of Representative Politics’ in Yves Mény and Yves Surel

(eds), Democracies and the Populist Challenge (Palgrave Macmillan 2002) 62–80.

2

Ben Stanley, ‘The Thin Ideology of Populism’ (2008) 13(1) Journal of Political Ideologies 96.

3

ibid.

4

The rise of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, as president and prime minister of the USA and United

Kingdom and Northern Ireland, respectively, has in particular been singled out in mainstream media

as the re-emergence of populism. See for instance, Oscar Winberg, ‘Insult Politics: Donald Trump,

Right-Wing Populism and Incendiary Language’ (2017) 12(2) European Journal of American Studies

1–11; David Tabachnick, ‘Donald Trump’s Populist Presidency is the Real Coup, Not the

Impeachment Inquiry’ (The Conversation, 31 October 2019) <https://theconversation.com/donald-

trumps-populist-presidency-is-the-real-coup-not-the-impeachment-inquiry-124972> accessed 12

February 2020; Patrick Smith, ‘How Boris Johnson Used Brexit Populism to Storm Victory in UK

Election’ NBC News (London, 13 December 2019) <www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-boris-

johnson-used-brexit-populism-storm-victory-u-k-n1101401> accessed 12 February 2020; Andrew

Grice, ‘Boris Johnson’s Triumph of Populism Comes Straight from the Trump Playbook’ Independent

(London, 13 December 2019) <www.independent.co.uk/voices/boris-johnson-general-election-

december-2019-a9244811.html> accessed 12 February 2020.