SWAPO set to win Namibia poll, rivals cry foul

By Agnieszka Flak

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - First results from Namibian elections trickled in on Monday, but too few to show if a breakaway opposition faction would end the two-thirds majority in parliament that the ruling party has held since 1995.

Results were confirmed from around 48,000 of 1.18 million registered voters in the arid state, which is one of Africa's wealthier states because of diamond and uranium exports but has suffered heavily from the global downturn.

First results gave 62 percent of parliamentary votes to the South West Africa People's Organisation, a former guerrilla movement that has led since independence in 1990 and is set to keep power for five more years and to retain the presidency.

In second place with 11 percent was the Rally for Democracy and Progress, which split from the ruling party in 2007 and accused SWAPO in its campaign of failing to do enough on unemployment, health and education.

Opposition parties in the country of 2.2 million, which is bigger than Turkey, hope to at least deprive SWAPO of the two-thirds majority needed to be able to change the constitution.

Delays in releasing results after polls closed on Saturday have been criticised by observers and opposition parties who say there were voting and counting irregularities which the electoral commission failed to address.

Six opposition parties said they would seek legal advice to determine if the election was legitimate.

"We would consider to approach the high court in order to verify the legitimacy of these elections," Henk Mudge, president of the Republican Party told a news conference.