Namibians vote for a Constituent Assembly

Location: back to this day in history search archive Voters went to the polls (7-11 November) to vote for a Constituent Assembly in the first all-race and fully democratic elections in South-West Africa/Namibia. The Constituent Assembly was to draw up a new constitution for the territory as a sovereign state. More than 97% of the registered voters voted. The South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) won the election overwhelmingly and on 14 November Mr Martti Ahtisaari, the Secretary-General's Special Representative in Windhoek, declared the elections 'free and fair'.  The elections, supervised by the United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG), followed an international agreement which involved the phased withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola and of South African troops from Angola and Namibia. The agreement also entailed the removal of African National Congress (ANC) bases from Angola.