Swapo candidate Kennedy Simasiku was on Thursday declared the winner of the Katima Mulilo urban constituency by-election held on Wednesday after he scored 1557 votes out of 3002 total votes counted.

Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) Chief Electoral Officer Theo Mujoro, announced in a media statement on Thursday.

Simasiku was followed by Independent Candidate (IC) Gibson Kabuna Nkando who scored 417 votes, Lynnette Malipa of Independent Patriots for Change with 296 votes, Mweti Matengu of Popular Democratic for Change 294 votes, Chripher Simasiku of National Democratic Party 282 votes and IC Poniso Miller Kubwina with 156 votes.

Mujoro said the election was conducted in a calm and peaceful atmosphere with no incident recorded, and it was done in front of political party agents who also ensured that voting materials were in order.

‘The commission extends its gratitude to all the election officials, party agents, the Namibian Police Force and the media for overseeing the conduct of a credible electoral process and the maintenance of the law. Equally, the ECN would like to thank all the voters that turned up at various polling stations to cast their votes,’ said Mujoro.

The election was necessitated by the death of former Swapo Katima Mulilo Urban Constituency councillor John Mukaya in May this year and it was held in line with the Electoral Act of 2014, which allows for the holding of a by-election within 90 days of a vacancy arising.

Source: Namibia Press Agency