Afrobarometer

Is a country’s success in reducing poverty linked to that country having more political freedoms. The findings of the 2008 Afrobarometer public opinion survey would suggest that ‘yes’ is the answer.

Are Namibians interested in politics? Asked how interested they were in public affairs, 59 percent of respondents to the Afrobarometer survey said they were either somewhat or very interested. The remaining 41 percent said they were not at all interested or not very interested. The fact that just over 40 percent seem to have little interest in politics appears to go against recent turnout figures for national elections with over 80 percent of the registered electorate voting in 2004.

Out of Namibia’s elected politicians, Namibians are least likely to contact a National Assembly member if they have a problem or want to pass on their views. Ninety six percent of respondents said they had not contacted a member of the National Assembly (NA) in the past year, according to the Afrobarometer opinion survey. Three percent had contacted an NA MP either once or a few times.

Nearly two thirds of Namibians fear becoming a victim of political intimidation or violence during an election campaign, according to the Afrobarometer opinion survey. Some 10 percent were very fearful that they would be on the receiving end of intimidation or violence, while 55 percent were ‘somewhat’ or a ‘little bit’ concerned about the issue.

The latest round of the Afrobarometer opinion survey, conducted in November 2008 across Namibia, found that Namibians are becoming more democratic. More and more Namibians are rejecting authoritarian and non-democratic means of ruling, according to the survey of 1,200 people. Some 63 percent of those surveyed agreed that ‘democracy is always preferable’ as compared to 57 percent when the survey was previously carried out in 2006.