Namibians will choose the successor to the only leader they have known when they vote today and tomorrow in presidential and parliamentary elections.

　　President sam Nujoma, the revolutionary leader who led a 23-year independence war against neighboring South Africa, is retiring after 14 years as president, and most observers expect his hand-picked successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, to score an easy victory.

　　Nine parties are fielding presidential candidates, but none are expected to pose much of threat to Pohamba, who has the backing Nujoma's South West Africa People's Organization, or SWAPO, which won more than 75 percent of the vote in the last presidential election in 1999.

　　Namibia, a country of 1.8 million people that won independence in 1990, has a total of 977,742 registered voters and election officials expect about 90 percent of them to cast their ballots today or tomorrow for president and for the 72 seats in Parliament.

　　The electoral Commission of Namibia said yesterday 850 soldiers stationed in Liberia in West Africa had not yet received ballots, but arrangement were being made so the troops could vote.

　　Throughout the campaign, Pohamba and other SWAPO leaders have promised to consolidate the gains made under Nujoma in healthcare, education, and economic development.

　　(The Associated Press)