RWANDA CALLS FOR PROSECUTION OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER

By James Karuhanga, Kigali RWANDA

Belgium-based former Rwandan Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu, who openly supports genocidal forces that have, among other atrocities, killed civilians in south-western Rwanda, should be prosecuted instead of being given a safe haven in Europe, experts and observers have said.

former Rwandan Prime Minister, Faustin Twagiramungu (1994-1995)

Twagiramungu, in a recent video, openly urged Rwandans to join MRCD Ubumwe-FLN, a terrorist network operating in the east of neighbouring DR Congo, to wage war on their country, remarks that have drawn the ire from many.

Genocide scholar and researcher Tom Ndahiro told The New Times that: “He (Twagiramungu) should be prosecuted for his support to terrorism and war. It is against the law and Belgium knows that. According to Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights, such a speech is not protected and one can get decisions which are applicable to his utterances.”

Drafted in 1950, the European Convention on Human Rights is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe.

Ndahiro said Belgium is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and “any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law."

Rwanda’s Minister of State in charge of the East African Community, Olivier Nduhungirehe, said: “It’s not acceptable that a Belgian citizen or resident can sit in Belgium and call for Rwandans to join an armed and terrorist group on foreign soil. He has done this publicly and explicitly.”

The DR Congo government has demonstrated its committed to addressing the insecurity problem in the eastern parts of the country.

Its military has dealt a heavy blow to armed groups opposed to Rwanda, which operate there. Over the weekend, they also overwhelmed Twagiramungu’s MRCD Ubumwe-FLN, from its bases and killed its top commander Gen Jean Pierre Gaseni, something that may possibly have triggered the former’s latest statement.

In September, they killed the former supreme commander of the genocidal militia, FDLR, Sylvestre Mudacumura who evaded capture for over a decade.

Just last month, the Congolese army killed another commander of RUD-Urunana, General Musabyimana Juvenal, alias Jean-Michel Africa.

According to Dr Alphonse Muleefu, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Rwanda, statements of people like Twagiramungu, calling for the support of FLN, MRCD’s military wing, the group responsible for recent attacks targeting civilians in and around Nyungwe Forest, raises at least three legal issues that deserve some serious investigation.

Understanding these issues is very important, he noted, because of the serious nature of the alleged violations the group is responsible for according to Rwandan laws, but also because of the location of individuals making those statements; Europe.

Muleefu said: “The fact that these individuals are making these statements based in European cities requires us to reflect on its implications in relation to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), especially in as far as the protection of the freedom of expression is concerned.”

“The protection of freedom of expression does not cover statements inciting hatred or violence; it has never been the spirit of human rights instruments in Europe or elsewhere. Different human rights provisions provide for the restriction of the right to freedom of expression in the interest of other values such as public order, moral values and peace.”

Muleefu explained that the protection of freedom of expression is to allow people in a democratic society to express themselves even if their views might be controversial but it does not go as far as supporting violence or hatred.

The legal issues that arise when someone in a foreign country makes a statement calling people to join a violent armed group against another country are threefold, he said.

The position Rwanda has taken is that FLN is a terrorist group, he added, and therefore the first issue to investigate is whether its conduct of targeting civilians fits the description of terrorist organizations according to the laws of countries hosting those individuals making such statements.

“It can be fairly argued that, in this case, this determination might not be very difficult to reach given the fact that FLN has adopted tactics similar to those of FDLR, which is already on the list of terrorist organisations in different countries.”

“If this determination is accurate, then calling for the support of FLN is tantamount to supporting terrorism, which is punishable in different countries. And, as some people have indicated, the case of ROJ TV A/S against Denmark is interesting in this situation.”

Roj TV was a satellite television that promoted activities of PKK broadcasting in the Kurdish language throughout Europe and the Middle East.

The varsity don noted that the Copenhagen City Court after determining that ‘the PKK was on the list of terrorist organisations in the EU, Canada, the US, Australia and the UK’, and that Roj TV was  promoting the views of the PKK, concluded that Roj TV had breached the anti-terrorism laws and its owners were found guilty of "promoting terrorism."

The decision was upheld at all levels of appeal in Denmark and at the European Court of Human Rights.

Second, Muleefu said, it is now possible to link Twangiramungu and others supporting FLN to all the violations of human rights the group is responsible for, as accomplices or accessories to those crimes.

“In this scenario, we can refer ourselves to the case of Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni in Germany where, in 2014, the two FDLR leaders were convicted of supporting and being members of a terrorist group abroad and responsible for the group’s serious violations of human rights.”

Third, he said, it is an important legal and diplomatic or political question to put to countries hosting people spreading violent propaganda – in particular Belgium.

It is important to ask, he noted, why such countries do not intervene to regulate political activities of foreigners on their soil, since such intervention would conform to Article 16 of the ECHR, especially when such activities are in contradiction with the international community’s effort to bring peace to DR Congo and Africa’s Great Lakes region, in general.

TANZANIA THREATENS WITHDRAWAL FROM AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COURT

By Our Staff Reporter, Dar es Salaam TANZANIA

The government of Tanzania is asking the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) to withdraw a protocol it views as contentious, key minister has revealed.

Augustine Mahiga, The minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said yesterday that reports that Tanzania had withdrawn its AfCHPR membership were untrue, noting that the country was only asking for a review of a protocol it believes is contentious. 

“The decision to withdraw our membership will only come after they fail to change the protocol that is contentious in the court’s operations,” he said without stating the particular protocol.

Mahiga said the government has written to the AfCHPR, asking the court to withdraw the protocol, which he said was in contravention with Tanzania’s laws. 

The court is based in Arusha Tanzania.

“We have not withdrawn our membership, but there is one protocol in the operations of the court which is contrary to Tanzania’s laws. What we have done is to write to the court so that it can change the protocol…We are waiting for the changes which when proved difficult then we will have to withdraw our membership,” he said.

In a notice signed by Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Palamagamba Kabudi on 14^th November 2019, says that “The government of United Republic of Tanzania has decided to withdraw the declaration it made on the 9^th March 2010 under article 34 (6) of the protocol of the African Charter on the Establishment of an African court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for review.”

Kabudi said that the decision has been reached after the declaration has been implemented contrary to the reservations submitted by the United Republic of Tanzania when making its declaration. “Therefore, this serves as an official notice of withdrawal by the United Republic of Tanzania.” He said.

The AfCHPR was established by African countries to ensure the protection of human and peoples’ rights in Africa.  It complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The court was established by virtue of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights as adopted by Member States of the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in June 1998. 

The Protocol came into force on 25 January 2004. So far, nine out of the 30 states Parties to the Protocol had made the declaration recognising the competence of the Court to receive cases from NGOs and individuals.

The nine states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Tanzania and Tunisia.

The court has jurisdiction over all cases and disputes submitted to it concerning the interpretation and application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Protocol and any other relevant human rights instrument ratified by the States concerned.

Specifically, the Court has two types of jurisdiction: contentious and advisory.

Since Magufuli’s election in 2015, Tanzania has implemented laws that stifle independent journalism and severely restrict the activities of NGOs and opposition parties. 

Civil society activism and public discussions on human rights-related issues have also been suppressed, while the authorities’ “regressive” policies have restricted the playing field for those seeking to challenge the ruling party. - Africa

CHINA BARS U.S. MILITARY SHIPS, AIRCRAFT FROM HONG KONG

By Cate Cadell, BEIJING, China

China on Monday banned U.S. military ships and aircraft from visiting Hong Kong and slapped sanctions on several U.S. non-government organizations for allegedly encouraging anti-government protesters in the city to commit violent acts.

The measures were a response to U.S. legislation passed last week supporting the protests which have rocked the Asian financial hub for six months. It said it had suspended taking requests for U.S. military visits indefinitely, and warned of further action to come.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying 

“We urge the U.S. to correct the mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs. China will take further steps if necessary to uphold Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity and China’s sovereignty,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing in Beijing.

China last week promised it would issue “firm counter measures” after U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which supports anti-government protesters in Hong Kong and threatens China with sanctions for human rights abuses.

There are fears that the dispute over Hong Kong could impact efforts by Beijing and Washington to reach a preliminary deal to de-escalate a prolonged trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

In more normal times, several U.S. naval ships visit Hong Kong annually, a rest-and-recreation tradition that dates back to the pre-1997 colonial era and one that Beijing allowed to continue after the handover from British to Chinese rule.

“We have a long track record of successful port visits to Hong Kong, and we expect that to continue,” said a U.S. State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“False accusations of foreign interference” against the U.S. NGOs “are intended to distract from the legitimate concerns of Hongkongers,” the official said.

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said port visits to Hong Kong and elsewhere around the world served as a useful program to “provide liberty for our sailors and expand people-to-people ties with our hosts”.

“With regard to the ongoing protests, we condemn the unjustified use of force and urge all sides to refrain from violence and engage in constructive dialogue,” he said in a statement.

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China’s move would not have an impact on U.S. military operations.

Visits have at times been refused amid broader tensions and two U.S. ships were denied access in August.

The USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the Japan-based Seventh Fleet, stopped in Hong Kong in April – the last ship to visit before mass protests broke out in June.

Foreign NGOs are already heavily restricted in China, and have previously received sharp rebukes for reporting on rights issues in the country, including the mass detention of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

The U.S.-headquartered NGOs targeted by Beijing include the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House.

“They shoulder some responsibility for the chaos in Hong Kong and they should be sanctioned and pay the price,” Hua said.

KENYA WOOS OIL IMPORTERS TO RECLAIM BUSINESS LOST TO TANZANIA

By Njiraini Muchira, Nairobi KENYA

Kenya hopes to regain its petroleum export market after cutting pipeline tariffs by 50 per cent, a development that sets up stiff competition with Tanzania.

Nairobi, which had lost about 30 per cent of its petroleum export market to Dar es Salaam, is also stepping up its crackdown on fuel adulteration and smuggling, a growing menace costing the government $340 million annually in lost taxes.

A new oil jetty at the Kenya Pipeline Corporation depot in Kisumu in western Kenya. Nairobi is wooing petroleum importers with a raft of incentives.

Last week, the Kenya Revenue Authority in collaboration with a multi-agency team formed to strengthen co-ordination among different agencies in curbing illicit trade intercepted a consignment of 7,000 litres of diesel fuel smuggled from Ethiopia.

This comes at a time when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that the East African Community loses over $500 million in tax revenue annually due to counterfeiting.

“KRA has enhanced vigilance at the country’s border points as part of key measures geared towards stepping up the fight against illicit trade and counterfeits,” Kevin Safari, KRA commissioner for Customs and Border Control said in a statement.

Kenya hopes the intensified surveillance and crackdown on fuel adulteration and dumping will help the country recapture the petroleum export market from Tanzania.

More critically, Nairobi hopes the lower pipeline tariffs will encourage petroleum and petroleum products importers to use the Mombasa port for products destined for neighbouring landlocked countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the new tariffs imposed by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, oil marketing companies will pay $30.89 per 1,000 litres down from $60 to transport fuel using Kenya Pipeline Company facilities.

The rates, which will apply for the next three years, will further be lowered to $30.65 in 2020 and $29.07 in 2021.

“Kenya had lost about 30 per cent of its petroleum export market to Tanzania mainly due to the   high tariffs charged for pipeline transport,” EPRA director general Pavel Oimeke told The EastAfrican.

He added that in the past 10 days after the implementation of the revised pipeline tariffs, the export volumes have doubled, a trend that is ultimately expected to regain the lost market share.

KPC, which was pushing for an upward review of the tariffs that include the domestic market, has however protested the reduction ostensibly on the basis that it will have a negative impact on its bottom line.

The company wanted an increase to raise funds to service massive debts procured to finance infrastructure investments including the new Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline constructed at a cost of $473.4 million, and the four new oil storage tanks in Nairobi that cost $50 million. The company has also invested $16 million in the Kisumu Oil Jetty.

Mr Oimeke said that KPC has submitted a protest letter to EPRA, which does not amount to an appeal against the new tariffs.

“They are yet to submit a detailed appeal to us. What we received is a protest letter. We have written to them and advised on how to structure the appeal accompanied with justification for each item. We will objectively review once we receive the detailed appeal,” he added.

According to the Economic Survey 2019, Kenya’s volume of petroleum exports declined to 739.800 tonnes in 2018, from 842.400 tonnes in 2017.

Although the value of total exports rose by 7.5 per cent to $374.2 million in 2018 on account of a growth in the value of re-exports, the value of domestic exports of petroleum products dropped by 15.2 per cent to $40.5 million in 2018.

In the first half of 2019, the value of domestic exports stood at $11.5 million from $20.2 million in same period in 2018, a 43 per cent decline.

While the volumes of transit petroleum products imports in Kenya have been on the decline, Tanzania has recorded a significant rise in imports entering through the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga.

Data by the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority of Tanzania shows that in the financial year ending June 2018, the volume of transit products stood at 2.6 million litres compared with two million litres for 2017, a 35 per cent rise. Ewura, in its 2018 annual report reckons that importers prefer Tanzania due to the authority’s efforts in ensuring compliance to laws and standards in the downstream petroleum subsector.

According to Mr Oimeke, the level of petroleum fuels adulteration in Kenya has significantly reduced since September 2018 when the anti-adulteration of $0.173 per litre was introduced for Kerosene.

In addition, dumping has significantly reduced due to improvements implemented to the petroleum fuels marking and monitoring programme since January this year. The improvements include increased frequency of monitoring and stiffer penalties for culprits, which has seen compliance levels for both dumping and adulteration hit 100 per cent as at the end of last quarter.

“EPRA has increased surveillance and also enlisted the help of the National Police Service to ensure that the problem is dealt with,” he said.

He added that EPRA is working with regional energy regulators under the auspices of the Energy Regulators Association of East Africa to improve compliance across the region.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority has allowed oil marketing companies to pay $30.89 per 1,000 litres in tariffs, down from $60 to transport fuel using Kenya Pipeline Company facilities.

The rates will apply for the next three years and will be further lowered to $30.65 in 2020 and $29.07 in 2021.

Oil marketers pay on average $80 to ferry oil from Dar es Salaam on trucks but pay $60 tariff on pipeline to Kisumu and a further $35 to truck the product to Uganda, Rwanda and northern Tanzania buying countries. Tanzania has also stepped up competition by increasing efficiencies at the port.

According to the Economic Survey 2019, Kenya’s volume of petroleum exports declined to 739.800 tonnes in 2018, from 842.400 tonnes in 2017.

But KPC has protested the cut in tariffs.

BURKINA FASO: ATTACK ON CHURCH KILLS AT LEAST 14

Ouagadougou, BURKINA FASO

The president of the West African nation of Burkina Faso has confirmed that 14 people were killed in an attack on a Protestant church during Sunday services in the country's east.

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Twitter that he condemned "the barbaric attack" in the town of Hantoukoura. He said several people were also wounded.

Kabore offered his "deepest condolences to the bereaved families" and wished "a speedy recovery to the wounded." 

The identity of the gunmen was not immediately clear and further details on the attack had yet to emerge. Burkinabe armed forces were caring for the wounded and searching the area, the government said in a statement.

Until 2015, the poor West African country was largely spared the violence that hit Mali and then Niger, its neighbours to the north.

But attackers - some linked to al-Qaeda, others to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group - began infiltrating the north, before moving east and towards the southern and western borders.

The unrest has ignited ethnic and religious tensions, rendering large parts of the country ungovernable.

The attack took place in the village of Hantoukoura near the border with Niger in the Eastern Region, an area known for banditry that has come under attack over the past year from groups with suspected links to al-Qaeda and ISIL.

The timing of the latest incident, during hours of worship, mirrored other attacks on Christians this year - a new phenomenon in a West African country that has long prided itself on its religious tolerance.

Hundreds have been killed over the past year and nearly a million forced from their homes.

SUDAN: BASHIR FACES DEATH OVER 1989 COUP

By Mawahib Abdallatif, Khartoum SUDAN

Deposed Sudan President Omar al Bashir, already on trial over economic crimes during his 30-year reign, faces a possible death sentence over his role in the 1989 coup that removed the democratically elected government of Sadid al-Mahdi from power.

Former Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir . He faces a possible death sentence over his role in the 1989 coup that removed the democratically elected government of Sadid al-Mahdi from power.

During a busy week where he has tried to build confidence in the judiciary following the ouster of Mr al-Bashir in April, Attorney General Taj AlSir AlHeabr said he had formed a committee to investigate the June 30, 1989 military putsch which was led by Mr al-Bashir.

The committee’s findings will form the basis of prosecution of the Islamic Movement's leaders, including civilians and military personnel, for undermining the constitutional system. The charge has no limitation for time lapses and is punishable by death or life imprisonment.

“The committee has the competencies of public prosecution of military coup perpetrators,” Mr AlHeabr said. It is empowered to call any person to help with investigations and will report back in three months.

The attorney general said he hoped the findings would lay down a marker against forceful take-over of government that has characterised Sudan’s politics. The first coup happened in 1958 just two years after independence when Ibrahim Abboud usurped power.

He was dethroned by Jaafar Numeiri in 1969 who later suffered the same fate at the hands of Mr al-Bashir.

Mr al-Bashir soon cultivated legitimacy with the international community which did not frown at coups then as it does now until he got isolated over his support of terrorist organisations, hostility to a number of neighbouring governments and his ideological leanings to Sharia law.

Sudan Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is now on a diplomatic offensive to have Sudan removed from the US state sponsors of terrorism blacklist, which has limited its ability to attract investments or secure external financing for development in the face of a $55 billion debt stockpile.

Last week, the Sudan Council of Ministers resolved to annul the Public Order Act under which women were severely punished for misconducts as provided under Sheria law. The annulment now awaits the endorsement of ruling Transition Sovereign Council.

The committee will later write a criminal report against the masterminds and perpetrators on the 1989 coup. Besides Mr al-Bashir, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Nafie Ali Nafie, Ali Al-Haj Mohammed, Ibrahim Al-Sanusi and leaders of the National Islamic Front party led by Hassan Al-Turabi also face charges of undermining the constitutional order.

Legal experts said the turn of events would represent poetic justice for Mr al-Bashir who during his reign exploited provisions on crimes against the state to intimidate and prosecute political opponents as well as civilians.

Article 50 of the Sudanese Criminal Code of 1991 provides that conviction for actions intended to undermine the constitutional order of the country or to jeopardising its independence or unity attracts punishment by death, life imprisonment and confiscation of property.

The opening of the 1989 coup has attracted mixed reactions with supporters, saying the now independent judiciary should issue deterrents to prevent future coups.

Soon after deposing Mr al-Bashir, military generals led by Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, repeated on a number of occasions that they had foiled coups schemed by uniformed personnel and former elements of Mr al-Bashir’s regime.

Critics, however, say the trial over the coup would not be seen as anything more than the new rulers sacrificing their former leader to convince the masses of their reform credentials.

Mr al-Bashir and scores of close allies are already in custody on trials ranging from money laundering to corruption.

"There are more pressing regime symbols that the transitional authority in Sudan should punish such as corruption, the killing of demonstrators, as well as war crimes in the areas of armed conflict, whether in Darfur or South Kordofan,” said Tariq Osman, a political analyst.

Mr al-Bashir has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court over atrocities in the Darfur region. The Hague Court, however, could not secure his arrest while he was in power as countries like Jordan, Kenya and South Africa which he visited waved away obligations to arrest him with claims of his diplomatic immunity.

The sovereign council has blown hot and cold on handing him over to The Hague for trial, with its military wing reluctant and the civil wing keen to honour the international obligation.

However, Sudan is presently not a signatory to the ICC treaty.

The military wing of the Sovereign council is also not sitting pretty after AlHeabr vowed on Wednesday to try killers of protesters at a sit-in outside the military headquarters on June 3. Officially, 63 people were killed when uniformed men fired at protests but independent sources said up to 130 people may have died.

Fingers at the time pointed at the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces headed by the deputy leader of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo for the deaths. The then transitional military council denied the claims saying some protesters were armed.

“I will try the killers even if it was Al-Burhan himself as no one is above the law,” AlHeabr was quoted assuring families of victims of the attack by the Middle East Monitor on Thursday. Hamdok ordered an investigation into the deaths in September. – The East African

SOUTH AFRICA LAUNCHES NEW ADVANCED HIV DRUG

Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa said it is introducing an affordable, cutting-edge drug to fight HIV in the country with the largest number of people living with the AIDS-causing virus.

A patient taking antiretroviral drugs. South Africa said it is introducing an affordable, cutting-edge drug to fight HIV in the country with the largest number of people living with the AIDS-causing virus.

Hailing the new anti-retroviral drug as "the fastest way to reduce HIV viral load", the health department said it will start rolling out the advanced pill known as TLD on December 1 international World Aids Day.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize unveiled the pioneering drug at a ceremony in southwestern KwaZulu-Natal, the province with the country's highest prevalence rates, where more than a quarter of the population is infected.

The new three-in-one pill, developed with the financial backing of global health development organisation Unitaid, bands together the drugs tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine and dolutegravir.

Dolutegravir is the preferred first-line and second-line treatment recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and is already the drug of choice in high-income countries.

Unitaid's Director of Operations Robert Matiru said the new TLD drug "is highly effective and has much more rapid viral suppression" than the current treatment regime.

"It has fewer side effects in general and is much more resilient and also is even cheaper," he said.

The fixed dose, one pill combination is hoped to make it easier and more affordable for those suffering with the virus to begin and stay on treatment.

Unitaid said the price would start at USD75 per person per year and could drop lower, creating savings that could allow up to five million more people to receive treatment.

South Africa accounts for more than 10 percent of all HIV-related deaths and 15 percent of new infections, according to Unitaid.

The country has the world's largest HIV treatment programme, delivering anti-retroviral treatment to some 4.8 million people.

But at least 7.7 million South Africans are living with HIV, with the highest prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 years.

NAMIBIAN RULING PARTY LOST TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY

By Sakeus Iikela, Windhoek NAMIBIA

The ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) Party has lost its overwhelming parliamentary dominance after gaining 63 seats in the National Assembly election – just short of a two-thirds majority that would have enabled the party to push through constitutional changes despite opposition from other parties.

President Hage Geingob won re-election with 56,3% of the votes cast in the presidential election – a fall of more than a third from his 87% share of the vote in 2014. Independent presidential candidate Panduleni Itula received 29,4% of the votes in the presidential election, ending in second place after Geingob.

The ruling party enjoyed an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly since 1994 and reached a high point of winning 77 out of 96 voting seats in the 2014 election.

A total of 820 227 votes were cast in this year's National Assembly election, according to results announced by the Electoral Commission of Namibia on Saturday evening.

Swapo received 536 861 of the votes, which is equivalent to 65,5% and earned the ruling party 63 of the voting seats in the National Assembly.

Coming in second is the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), which gained 136 576 votes or 16,6% of the total number of votes cast.

The quota to qualify for a seat in the National Assembly was set at 8 544 votes.

Eleven out of the fifteen political parties that contested the National Assembly election won seats in parliament.

The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) is the biggest winner with 16 seats, followed by new entrants the Landless People's Movement (LPM) with four seats.

The PDM won five seats in the National Assembly in the 2014 election.

Other political parties that gained seats in the National Assembly for the first time include the Christian Democratic Voice Party and the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), which won one and two seats respectively.

The United Democratic Front (UDF), National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo), All People's Party and Republican Party won two seats each, while the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) and Swanu scraped back into the National Assembly with one seat each.

The four parties that did not qualify for any seats in parliament are the former official opposition the Congress of Democrats, the Workers Revolutionary Party, the National Patriotic Front and the National Democratic Party.

In a short statement delivered after his re-election, Geingob downplayed the importance of a two-thirds majority in parliament, saying it could not prevent the National Assembly from passing important laws.

Geingob said the two-thirds majority can only be useful when deciding on crucial things such as amending the constitution.

PDM leader McHenry Venaani in an interview with The Namibian said it was good news that the two-thirds majority was broken.

“It will sanitise the politics of the country. It will sanitize the debate in the house, legislation and we will start listening to each other, because we are sitting with a government that doesn't listen to anyone,” Venaani said.