Namibians lined up in front of polling stations in capital Windhoek on Monday, casting their votes to choose a new president and parliament for the country, with the ruling South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) widely expected to win.

In downtown's main Independence Avenue, hundreds lined up in front of the United House polling station, waiting to cast their vote. At seven in the morning (0050 GMT), President Sam Nujoma turn up in the polling station, first in line to cast his vote.

"I call upon all Namibian citizens to turn up in peace and exercise their democratic rights to ensure the continued peace, stability and economic development, in the interests of all Namibian citizens, irrespective of their color, race or status in society," Nujoma said after he cast his vote.

In Windhoek's east suburb of Eros Park, SWAPO presidential candidate Hifikepunye Pohamba also turn up at seven to cast his vote. "SWAPO is going to win a landslide victory. I'm going to win," Pohamba said.

According to a SWAPO official at the polling station, the party is eyeing on a 65 percent majority of the 72-seat National Assembly. "The opposition could take 15 seats," said the official, declining to be named.

He said without an opposition coalition, the party could seal the majority easily.

SWAPO, which has been in power since Namibia's independence in 1990, is widely speculated to win easily in both the presidential and parliament elections. Reports said when incumbent President Sam Nujoma chose Land Minister Pohamba as his successor in a party conference in May, the election was already over, and the quest for the opposition is only to gain a stronger foothold than they did in the last election, when SWAPO took over 70 percent of the ballots.

In front of the polling station in Eros Park, some people walked half an hour or even an hour in the early morning to line up, but most are cautious on who their choices would be.

"It doesn't matter. It's my secret," an elderly lady said, when asked who's her choice of president and parliamentarian.

The independent Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) said they were satisfied with the voter turnout.

"This is a big turnout, you can see the long queue. This shows people's confidence," said Gurirab, ECN's Khomas region coordinator at the United House polling station. The ECN has set up 1169 polling stations nationwide for the two-day voting.

However, the SWAPO official said voter turnout in the city may look good, but the countryside looks "tricky."

"It is a vast country, so sparsely populated, with about half of the population in the northern countryside," he said.

Namibia, with a population of about 1.8 million, has some 970,000 registered voters. The country's voter turnout has been in steady decline since its first election, which saw an overwhelming near 100 percent voter turnout.

Many of the voters waiting in line said the country's land reform and economic development are their top concern in this election.

As land minister, Pohamba is an easy choice of many poor Namibians, because his ministry has been pushing forward the land reform that could benefit them.

"We have a long way to go," Pohamba said after he cast his vote, regarding the land reform. He said the land reform is to be implemented "lawfully," and said the expropriation is brought up as a means of the reform to "speed up things."

Land ownership is a very sensitive issue in the former German colony, where about 75 percent of commercial farms are owned by the minority white.

Namibia has been matching willing land buyers with willing sellers since independence in 1990, but according to reports, the country has resettled only 35,000 people, leaving 243,000 still waiting for land.

The government has said it wouldn't use force to solve the land problem, but it has already moved in the direction of expropriation. Reports said about 15 European descended farmers were ordered to set a price for their property in May and June, yet no actual appropriation has happened, and President Sam Nujoma has maintained the country's land expropriation program will be conducted in a legal and orderly manner.