Windhoek - Namibians vote on Friday and Saturday in general elections expected to see the ruling South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) return to power, despite a tough challenge from a new breakaway party.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba is seeking a second term in office, with his main competition posed by the upstart Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP).
Former foreign minister Hidipo Hamutenya launched the new party two years ago, after he lost his bid to take over SWAPO following the retirement of liberation leader Sam Nujoma in 2004.
The two are the biggest of the 12 parties contesting the presidency, with RDP claiming about 250 000 supporters from an estimated 1,1 million voters.
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Hamutenya was a popular figure within SWAPO, and he hopes to tap into dissatisfaction with the ruling party, which has ruled since independence in 1990.
"SWAPO has become stagnant and lost drive," said Asina Shikongo, a mother of three children, who sells small fried pieces of meat called "kapana" to workers at construction sites in the capital Windhoek.
"RDP is more modern and looks at the future. My oldest child will vote for the first time now, she turned 18 years last year, she belongs to the 'born-free' generation, born after independence," she told AFP.
Five years ago SWAPO took three-fourths of the vote for both president and parliament - the same result as the 1999 polls. The RDP doesn't expect to win, but does hope to become the main opposition party.
Tensions between the two parties have occasionally turned to stonings and intimidation against the RDP, with some SWAPO loyalists declaring some meeting spaces as "no go areas" for the breakaway.
But overall the election campaign has not been very energetic, with SWAPO praising roads, clinics and classrooms built in the past five years by its own government, but being vague about future targets.
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