The 2025 regional council and local authority elections recorded voter turnouts of 36.3% and 40.6%, respectively.
Although an additional 300 000 registrants were eligible to vote in the local authority election, only 78 000 more individuals cast a ballot.
For the regional council election, 91 000 additional registrants were eligible, with 83 000 more individuals voting.
In the regional council election, Swapo won 105 constituencies, up from 88 in 2020.
As a share of national votes, Swapo received 63.4%, an improvement on its 2020 share of 56.7%.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) won only one constituency: Windhoek East, securing 50% of the vote.
While the performance of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) was relatively stable, the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) lost all 12 constituencies it held in 2020.
Meanwhile, six constituencies were won by independent candidates.
In the local authority election, Swapo won 210 seats, up from 178 in 2020.
The IPC won 58, down from 66, while the LPM only won 27, down from 61. Swapo won at least one seat in all 59 local authorities, while the IPC won at least one seat in 43.
The PDM won seats in 16 of the 49 local authorities it contested in, while the LPM won seats in 18 of the 25 authorities it contested in.
Afrobarometer’s findings suggest there are comparatively low levels of public awareness regarding these elections, with respondents having limited information or direct experience with regional council and local authority councillors.
Nonetheless, roughly 45% of Namibian adults in 2024 said they approve of the performance of their elected regional council and local authority councillors, with approval greater in Namibia’s northern regions.
Other questions asked on councillors pertaining to trust and willingness to listen to what ordinary people have to say are also generally more positive in these regions.
However, perceptions on corruption among councillors are more evenly distributed, with about 30% of respondents believing that ‘most’ or ‘all’ councillors are involved in corruption.
In the ||Kharas and Hardap regions, however, about 30% believe there is no corruption among their councillors, compared to less than 10% believing so in all other regions.
Contact between communities and their representatives is also low.
While 20% to 30% of respondents in the four northern O-regions say they have made contact with their councillors in the preceding 12 months, only about 10% to 20% state the same in all other regions.
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