Adolf Hitler Uunona: Namibia politician wins election - but why is he named after the Nazi-Germany dictator?

Adolf Hitler won a landslide victory in a Namibian local election (Eagle FM Namibia)

A man named Adolf Hitler has won a crushing victory in a Namibian local election.

Adolf Hitler Uunona won a seat as councillor in the Ompundja constituency of the southwest African country.

Following his election, Hitler has insisted that he has no connection to the Nazi ideology and has no plans for world domination.

In fact, Uunona is known for his work as a civil rights activist and anti-apartheid fighter.

Why is he called Adolf Hitler?

Between 1885 and 1915 Namibia was a German colony.

The country was known as German South West Africa during its years as a colony before it was taken over by neighbouring South Africa.

Namibia earned independence in 1990 and the South West African People's Organization or SWAPO party, for which Uunona is a member, has ruled since.

Despite moving on from German and South African rule Germanic names are still widely used in the country. Indeed there are German street names, German radio stations, while the name Adolf is relatively commonplace.

Speaking to German news title Bild, Mr Hitler explained that his father "probably didn't understand what Adolf Hitler stood for."

He added: "It wasn't until I was growing up that I realized this man wanted to subjugate the whole world."

Mr Uunona says his wife calls him Adolf and he goes by the name in public.

Who is he?

Despite sharing a name with the evil dictator, Uunona is better known for his anti-apartheid work.

Elected with 84.88 percent of the votes in local election in the Ompundja district in the Oshana region.

The victory is not the 53-year-old’s first in politics, who has long been popular with the local community in Oshana.

The politician has previously rejected discussing his name, scolding a request from the AFP News Agency on Thursday.

He said: "I am not going to entertain the conversation, there is no reason we should be sitting here, having an entire conversation about my name," he retorted.

"You really want us to have an entire conversation about my name? How will that make Namibia a better country, how will it contribute to the development of our country?