Namibia's first woman president says win breaks 'glass ceiling'

Namibia's first woman president Nandi-Ndaitwah on Thursday said her victory in a disputed vote last week had broken a "glass ceiling". The vice-president got 57-percent of the vote in the 27 November election, marred by logistical and technical issues, which prompted the extension of voting for three more days.

She became the first woman to rule the nation, governed by her South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) party since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990. In her address, Namibia's new leader praised Liberia's former head of state Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who in 2006 became the first woman president on the African continent, for being "the one who really led the way".