party's chief of operations in Lusaka. From 1981 to 1982 he studied politics in the Soviet Union, and upon his return to Africa he moved to Luanda, Angola, where SWAPO's headquarters was at that time. After independence of Namibia Pohamba headed SWAPO's 1989 election campaign and was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, before becoming a member of the National Assembly at independence in March 1990. He was Minister of Home Affairs from March 1990 to 1995, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources from 1995 to 1997, and Minister without portfolio from 1997 to March 2000. He was elected as secretary-general of SWAPO in 1997 and as its vice-president in 2002. On 26 January 2000, he was appointed as Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation in addition to his above ministerial position, in which position he remained until becoming president in 2005. Under Pohamba's leadership as Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Namibia initiated a policy of partial land expropriation from landed white farmers to landless black ones. This policy was introduced to supplement the existing one of "willing buyer-willing seller" to try speed up the process. After becoming president, Pohamba also took over the chancellorship of the University of Namibia from Nujoma in November 2011. Presidency Pohamba was selected as SWAPO's candidate for the 2004 presidential election at an extraordinary party congress held in May 2004. He received 213 votes out of 526 in the first round of voting; in the second round, held on 30 May, he won with 341 votes against 167 for Hidipo Hamutenya, having received the support of nearly all of those who had backed third place candidate Nahas Angula in the first round. In the presidential election, held on 15/16 November 2004, Pohamba won with 76.44% of the vote, in what has been described as a "landslide", but also denounced as flawed by the opposition. He was backed by Nujoma, who was then serving his third five-year term; Pohamba has been described as Nujoma's hand-picked successor. Pohamba took office as president on 21 March 2005 and has since distinguished himself by careful but decisive moves against corruption. Although there was speculation that Nujoma would seek re-election as SWAPO President in 2007 and then run for President of Namibia again in 2009, he denied these rumours in early October 2007, saying that he intended