An African politician named Adolf Hitler is expected to be re-elected in days. Namibian politician Adolf Hitler Uunona triumphed at the 2020 local elections in his country, winning 85% of the votes. He was elected as councillor for the Ompundja constituency by 1,196 votes to 213, which landed him a seat on the regional council.
As voters are heading to the polling stations on November 26, Mr Uunona’s seat appears safe, with early projections from the country’s electoral commission suggesting he could gain once again the majority of the votes. The 59-year-old, who was elected as a member of the Swapo party, lives in an electoral constituency which in 2020 counted just 2,520 registered voters.
However, he gained international prominence due to his name, linked to one of the darkest periods in history.
In an interview with German publication Bild, the Namibian politician was clear in distancing himself from the German dictator, saying he had “nothing to do” with Nazi ideology.
Mr Uunona, a fierce anti-apartheid campaigner, said his father had named him after the Nazi leader, but added: “He probably didn’t understand what Adolf Hitler stood for. As a child I saw it as a totally normal name.”
Germanic names are not uncommon in Namibia, which was a German colony betwen 1884 and 1915.
The politician continued: “It wasn’t until I was growing up that I realised: This man wanted to subjugate the whole world. I have nothing to do with any of these things.”
The politician’s party, Swapo, was founded in 1960 and has been the governing party in the country since the 1990s.
It has campaigned against colonial and white-minority rule.
