A long-term disconnect from the economic desires, needs, and expectations of the people has resulted in a change in how young people exercise their voting preferences.

Economist Rowland Brown highlighted this during his presentation at the Old Mutual Investment Summit 2023, held in Windhoek.

According to economist and director of Cirrus Capital ,Rowland Brown, the weak performance of the economy, combined with high youth unemployment, is the key factor influencing the divergence in voting patterns among the youth and the older generation.

If we look at what happened between 2014 and 2019, voter behavior changed very dramatically based largely on the big change in the macroeconomic environment, perhaps with contributions from Fishrot from the side.
 

Brown emphasised that the loyalty displayed by the older generation towards the incumbent government differs significantly from that exhibited by young people.

And this becomes a big question going forward: if we aren't doing what young people want and improving their lives, how loyal will they remain to the incumbent?

Brown characterised the outcome of next year's elections as a wild card, as it could potentially lead to the election of a radical populist as president.

According to the 2019 election records of the Electoral Commission of Namibia, a total of 700,648 young people were registered to vote, accounting for 52 percent of the registered voter pool.