United Democratic Front (Namibia)

The United Democratic Front (UDF) is a political party in Namibia. Justus ǁGaroëb is the party's leader since its foundation in 1989. He stepped down in 2013.

The United Democratic Front is a political party that is most widely supported by Damara people. Its roots are in the Damara Council, an administrative body for the Damaraland territory in South West Africa that in 1980 became a political party. The Damara Council in 1989 joined other parties in order to participate in the first democratic elections in Namibia. The result of the merger was the United Democratic Front (UDF).

The founding members of the UDF were Justus ǁGaroëb, leader of the Damara Council, and Reggie Diergaardt, leader of the Labour Party. On 20 July 1989 the Patriotic Unity Movement joined the UDF.

The UDF formed an alliance with a number of splinter parties prior to the 1989 election:

The UDF received 37,874 votes (5.65%) in the 1989 election, which elected members to the Constituent Assembly of Namibia. The Constituent Assembly elected the first President and wrote Namibia's constitution. From the UDF, President Justus ǁGaroëb, Reggie Diergaardt, Eric Biwa and Theophelus Soroseb were chosen for the assembly.

The UDF won one seat in the 1992 elections for the National Council of Namibia.

In 1994, electoral support for the party diminished in both relative and total support. The party received 13,309 total votes (2.72% of the national vote). Two UDF members were elected to the National Assembly (ǁGaroëb and Biwa).

The party retained its single seat in the National Council in 1998.

Following the 1999 parliamentary election, the UDF formed a coalition with the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) so that the two parties could together be the official opposition despite the Congress of Democrats receiving the second highest number of votes.

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