The president is both chief of state and head of government and is directly elected for up to two five-year terms. In 2019, Hage Geingob of SWAPO was reelected with 56.3 percent of the vote. While international observers deemed polls peaceful and results credible, concerns were raised about electronic voting machines’ lack of a verifiable paper trail, long waiting times to vote, and delays in the counting and release of results.

The National Council, the upper chamber of the bicameral parliament, has 42 seats, with members appointed by regional councils for six-year terms. The lower house, the National Assembly, has 96 seats filled by popular election for five-year terms using party-list proportional representation.

SWAPO won a lower-house majority of 63 seats (65.5 percent of the vote) in the 2019 elections. The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) won 16 seats, while the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) won 4. International observers considered the polls competitive and credible, though concerns were raised about several aspects of the electoral process.

The electoral framework is robust and generally well implemented. The 2019 polls were declared free and fair by international election observers, although they raised concerns over other aspects of the electoral process. Controversy around the use of electronic machines dominated the 2019 elections, with some party leaders expressing doubt about the results for want of a verifiable paper trail. The use of electronic voting machines without paper trails was ruled invalid in February 2020, and the ECN confirmed in June 2022 that the next elections will use paper ballots.

In July 2023, the ECN disqualified a finalist candidate for its top post following a complaint by an opposition politician that the candidate had failed to disclose SWAPO ties.

Political parties may form and operate freely, and registration requirements are not onerous. However, candidate-registration fees and campaign financing can place an undue burden on smaller parties. Parties that hold parliamentary seats receive annual public support based on parliamentary representation, which disproportionately benefits SWAPO. Small parties lack financial resources or broad nationwide membership bases, impeding their ability to mobilize support.

Opposition parties may freely compete in elections and generally do not encounter intimidation or harassment during election campaigns. Although opposition parties have historically been regarded as weak and fragmented, they gained several seats in the 2019 elections, dislodging SWAPO from the two-thirds majority it held since 2014. Opposition parties also did well in the November 2020 local and regional elections.

People are generally able to express their political choices without undue influence from external actors, including religious or traditional leaders. However, the historic dominance of SWAPO—an ideologically diverse party that often faces intraparty disputes—limits voters’ ability to directly express a preference for particular policies.

The constitution guarantees political rights for all. Nevertheless, women are often discouraged from running for office, and few contested the November 2020 regional and local elections. Women comprise 49 percent of the members of local authorities and municipalities—attributable to legislated gender quotas at those levels—and between 19 and 23 percent of the candidates in regional elections. Women hold 46 of 96 National Assembly seats but are less represented in the National Council, where 6 of the 42 parliamentarians are female. In March 2023, Geingob named a woman—Namibian deputy prime minister and SWAPO vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah—as SWAPO’s presidential candidate for 2024.

Almost all of Namibia’s ethnic groups are represented in the parliament and senior political positions. However, members of the San ethnic group have faced restrictions on their political rights due to widespread discrimination and marginalization. LGBT+ people face discrimination that hampers their ability to openly advocate for their interests.

The democratically elected government freely determines policies. However, 2014 reforms increased executive power, including by adding parliamentarians who are appointed by the president and by limiting the National Council’s power to review certain bills. Concerns have been raised in the past over the Chinese Communist Party’s influence and ties to Namibian political elites.

Parliament’s ineffectiveness when passing legislation other than the national budget has raised concern, as has absenteeism by members of parliament. However, parliament was also reportedly rushed by the executive in 2023 into passing 13 bills in order for Namibia to avoid being grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), attracting criticism that the government was treating the legislature as a rubber-stamp institution.

While Namibia has a sound legal anticorruption framework, anticorruption laws are inconsistently enforced, and difficulties in accessing government-held information present barriers to gathering evidence. The Witness Protection Act and the Whistleblower Protection Act, signed in 2017, have not been fully enacted.

Light sentences in high-profile cases and low prosecution and conviction rates undermine the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which is underfunded. Nevertheless, in 2023, the ACC continued proceedings in the Fishrot scandal, in which six former ministers and other officials were accused of allegedly colluding with an Icelandic fishing company seeking preferential access to Namibian waters.

Parliament passed and the president signed an Access to Information (ATI) bill in 2022 but it has not been fully operationalized. The budget process lacks transparency, although the availability of budget documentation has improved in recent years.

A major project to build green hydrogen production capacity remains shrouded in secrecy. In its April 2022 Namibian procurement tracker, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) criticized the lack of transparency in the 2021 awarding of the multibillion-dollar project to Hyphen Hydrogen Energy, a company that had only existed for six months. A veil of secrecy exists over the extractive industry, military spending, statehouse upgrades, state security infrastructure, and private funding of political parties. Political parties sometimes fail to submit financial statements to the ECN as prescribed by the Electoral Act, limiting insight into how they use public funds.

The constitution guarantees media freedom and freedom of expression. In practice, journalists face few legal restrictions and generally work without risking their personal safety.

While self-censorship is common in state media, private media remain critical of the government. In October 2023, the Namibia Media Professionals Union (Nampu) accused the government of suspending the managing editor of the state-owned media outlet New Era Publication Corporation because the outlet had published reporting critical of the government.

Religious freedom is generally respected in practice.

Academic freedom is guaranteed by law and generally respected in practice.

Freedom of expression is legally guaranteed and generally observed in practice. However, The government reportedly maintains significant capabilities to conduct surveillance on citizens, which may discourage people from expressing dissent. Part 6 of the Communications Act of 2009, set to come into effect in 2024, expands the government’s data-collection powers, and there are similar concerns about draft cybercrime and data protection bills the Information Ministry said it was in the process of finalizing in July 2023.

Defamation laws may also discourage free speech. In February, Police Inspector General Joseph Shikongo sued activist Michael Amushelelo for N$1 million (US$53,000) for allegedly defamatory social media comments regarding a December 2022 car accident involving Shikongo that left three people dead.

Freedom of assembly is legally guaranteed and is usually observed in practice. However, police have at times used force against protesters.

In March 2023, Michael Amushelelo of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), Dimbulukeni Nauyoma of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, and Inna Hengari, a member of parliament from the PDM were arrested as they gathered for a planned protest against high unemployment on Namibia’s Independence Day. The protest was being held in defiance of a prohibition by the police on grounds of “national security interests;” the Supreme Court had upheld the prohibition when organizers attempted to appeal it. While Nauyoma and Hengari were released on bail, Amushelelo remained in custody for almost seven months. The charges against Hengari were withdrawn; Nauyoma and Amushelelo were acquitted in October.

In June 2023, two counterprotesters were reportedly arrested and later released after waving LGBT+ pride flags at a crowd demonstrating against the Supreme Court judgement that recognised same-sex marriages performed abroad.

Nongovernmental organizations generally operate without interference, though government leaders sometimes use public platforms to criticize them. In October, presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari responded to demands for more transparency on the green hydrogen project by warning civil society organizations to “refrain from speaking recklessly without factual basis and due consideration.”

In September, the FIC issued a new directive requiring NGOs to do stringent financial reporting and mandatory registration. The FIC maintains that the measure will help it root out money laundering and financing of illicit activities. However, civil society representatives say it will have a chilling effect on their work.

Constitutionally guaranteed union rights are respected and observed in practice, though essential public-sector workers do not have the right to strike.

In early 2023, a supermarket group engaged in a protracted stand-off with scores of employees who had mounted a strike the previous year over low pay; 275 workers who had been reinstated and given pay raises after suspensions following the strike were told in February they were being transferred to different regions. Some trade unions have decried the long delays in service from the Office of the Labour Commissioner, arguing that this affects their ability to represent workers.

Union membership has declined in recent years, with 25 percent of the labor force unionized.

By law and in practice, the separation of powers is observed, and judges are not frequently subject to undue influence.

Judges are appointed by the president upon the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which the president has some influence over. Gender parity activists hailed the April 2023 appointment of three women to the Supreme Court, a first since Namibian independence. However, critics bemoaned the lack of transparency in the appointment process for acting and permanent judges. The JSC responded to the criticism by holding public interviews for candidates for a High Court judgeship in December.

The rule of law and fair-trial rights are constitutionally protected, though equal access to justice is obstructed by factors including economic and geographic barriers, a shortage of public defenders, a lack of resources, and case backlogs. In 2023, several government officials called attention to the country’s high legal fees, which made legal services unattainable to many Namibians. In May, a High Court acting judge announced a step toward the conclusion of a treason trial in which seven defendants had been in custody for 21 years; the judge also apologized to the defendants for the long delays in their case.

Namibian courts have in the past overturned decisions after identifying irregularities in court proceedings. In April 2023, the High Court reversed a conviction because the magistrate had failed to afford the accused an opportunity to seek legal representation.

Namibia is free from war and insurgencies. However, police brutality and the abuse of suspects in custody are problems. In February 2023, the Office of the Ombudsman reported receiving 579 complaints of alleged police brutality between 2021 and 2022. In January 2023, two members of the Police’s Special Reserve Force were arrested following a fatal assault in Keetmanshoop that prompted protests against police brutality. In April 2023, the Supreme Court increased sentences of three former police officers from 10 years to 18 years in prison following an appeal on their sentencing for the 2013 fatal assault of a teenager whom they suspected of theft.

There is no independent police oversight mechanism as investigations are conducted by an Internal Investigation Directorate.

While the constitution prohibits discrimination, challenges remain. The San people face widespread discrimination and marginalization and lack land access.

Same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized, though the prohibition is not enforced.

LGBT+ people, people living with disabilities, and women face widespread discrimination. The May 2023 Supreme Court decision that recognised same-sex marriages performed abroad for immigration purposes sparked an anti-LGBT+ backlash. In July 2023, parliament passed legislation directly contradicting the court decision, but the law remained unsigned by the president at year‘s end.

In August 2023, Namibian officials informed the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that it was conducting a national investigation on discrimination against people with albinism.

Namibia lacks cyberharassment or data-protection legislation. The lack of legislative responses to communication technology-facilitated abuse leaves victims of misogynistic online abuse—in particular prominent women, journalists, girls, the LGBT+ community, and other minority groups—without adequate legal recourse.

Freedom of movement is constitutionally guaranteed and in most cases observed in practice.

The illegal fencing of communal land, condemned by the Commission of Inquiry into Ancestral Land Rights in January 2021, and its impact on freedom of movement and access to resources found in communal areas remains a challenge.

In May 2023, the Supreme Court delivered its judgement recognizing for immigration purposes same-sex marriages solemnized abroad. The Namibian Sun reported in September 2023 that the government had started complying with the ruling and had issued domicile and other permits to some couples. The ban on all recognition of same-sex marriages passed by parliament in July remained unsigned at year’s end.

Private property rights are guaranteed in law and largely respected in practice. The constitution prohibits expropriation without compensation. There are no legal barriers to women’s access to land. However, customs regarding inheritance procedures and property rights limit women.

Land rights remain a contentious and unresolved issue. The Commission of Inquiry into Ancestral Land Rights and Restitution presented its report to President Geingob in July 2020. In May 2023, the cabinet approved a revised national resettlement policy for 2023 to 2033, which it said was targeted to achieve more equitable allocation of, and more sustainable use of, land.

Same-sex marriages are not recognized, and many churches have in the past indicated their unwillingness to recognize or perform them.

Rates of gender-based violence (GBV) and rape of minors are high. In September 2022, parliament passed the Combating of Domestic Violence Amendment Act, which was criticized for excluding same-sex couples. The Combating of Rape Amendment Act, which introduces harsher sentences for rape, was promulgated in October 2022.

Abortion is only available for those in medical danger and for survivors of rape and incest. Forced and child marriages occur; 7 percent of girls are married before turning 18.

Slavery and servitude are constitutionally outlawed. However, forced child labor is prevalent in the agricultural sector and in domestic settings. San and Zemba children are especially at risk. Human trafficking remains a challenge. The US State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report found Namibia’s efforts to combat trafficking to be less serious and sustained than those in the previous year, and downgraded the country from its ranking in the top tier the previous year.