Mile-long lines of patient first-time voters snaked toward polling booths under a broiling sun last week as Namibia held United Nations-supervised elections that will lead the territory to independence after 74 years of South African control. So great was the enthusiasm that more than 90% of the country's 701,000 eligible voters cast ballots.
The leftist SWAPO Party, which led a guerrilla war against South Africa for 23 years, is expected to win a majority of the 72 seats in the National Assembly, but the key question will be the size of its victory. If SWAPO gains two-thirds of the seats, it...