National Council (Namibia)

National Council
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
History
Founded23 February 1993[1]
Leadership
Lukas Sinimbo Muha, SWAPO
since 15 December 2020[2]
Deputy Chairperson
Victoria Kauma, SWAPO
since 9 December 2019
Structure
Seats42
Political groups
Government (28)
  SWAPO (28)
Official opposition (6)
  LPM (6)
Other parties (8)
  PDM (2)
  IPC (2)
  UDF (2)
  NUDO (1)
  Independent (1)
Length of term
5 years
Elections
Indirect election by Regional Councils
Last election
25 November 2020
Meeting place
National Council Building, Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia
Website
Parliament of Namibia
Politics of Namibia
Constitution
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Administrative divisions
Elections
Foreign relations

The National Council is the upper chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. It reviews bills passed by the lower chamber and makes recommendations for legislation of regional concern to the lower chamber.[3]

The 42 National Council members are indirectly elected by regional councils for a term of five years.[4] Each of the 14 regional councils chooses three of its members to serve on the National Council.[5] The last regional council elections were held on 25 November 2020.

Political party distribution in the current National Council is as follows:[6]

The National Council meets in the capital Windhoek in the National Council Building next to the Tintenpalast. The chairperson as of December 2020 is Lukas Muha.

Election results

Political Party Election Year
1992 1998 2004 2010 2015 2020
South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) 19 21 24 24 40 28
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) 6 4 1 1 1 2
United Democratic Front (UDF) 1 1 1 1 - 2
National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) - - - - 1 1
Landless People's Movement (LPM) - - - - - 6
Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) - - - - - 2
Independent - - - - - 1
Total 26 26 26 26 42 42

See also

Tintenpalast, the former meeting place of the National Council

References

  1. ^ "National Council". Archived from the original on 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  2. ^ http://www.parliament.gov.na/index.php/component/content/article?layout=edit&id=495[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "History". www.parliament.na. Archived from the original on 2020-07-22. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  4. ^ "Namibia". New Parline: the IPU’s Open Data Platform (beta). July 5, 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Quadri, Maryam Omolara; Thomas, Erika K (2018). "Women and political participation in Namibia and Nigeria: a comparative analysis of women in elective positions" (PDF). Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. 7 (2). University of Namibia: 6–9. ISSN 2026-7215.
  6. ^ Iikela, Sakeus (14 December 2020). "First independent to serve as MP". The Namibian. p. 3.