Fewer Namibians feel close to any political party – Survey
Although most Namibians support multiparty competition, fewer feel close to any political party, a new Afrobarometer survey shows.
More than two-thirds of survey correspondents said the country needs many political parties to ensure that citizens have real choices in who governs them, but the proportion of citizens who identify with a political party continues to drop.
Survey findings show that large majorities of Namibians support multiparty competition and feel that voters have the power to elect leaders who will improve their lives, but the share of the voting-age population who identify with political parties has declined sharply over the past five years.
The survey shows that those who are less likely to feel close to a political party include youth and urban residents.
But the share of Namibians who “feel close to” a political party has declined sharply, from 84% in 2006 to 55% in 2019. Partisanship is at its lowest level since Afrobarometer surveys started in 1999.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on Africans’ experiences and evaluations of quality of life, governance, and democracy.
