Africa-Press – Namibia. The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) claims the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has blocked its candidate nominations, risking the party’s exclusion from 28 local authorities in the upcoming elections.
Nomination submissions for political parties opened on 26 September and closed on 16 October, with a one-day extension granted on 17 October.
The ECN is expected to announce the final list of candidates on 5 November.
LPM operative secretary Dawid Eigub yesterday said the party’s legal representatives are handling the matter and he could not divulge any further information.
LPM leader Bernadus Swartbooi on Monday told The Namibian the party was the first to register and attempt submission, but the ECN’s online portal blocked its nominations.
“We received certificates in some places, and they cut us out of 28 localities. As I am sitting here we are between the ECN and the people running around with lawyers to find out what is happening.
“What we want to know is whether electronic systems replace returning officers, because you hand over your documents physically to the returning officer,” he said.
Swartbooi said it is a serious issue, because the affected localities are mostly in the southern regions governed by the LPM.
“What kind of democracy is this? On the day of rectification we corrected all our written manuals, and despite suggesting alternative solutions to submit our candidate names on time, the ECN still blocked us, knowing very well the system is not working,” he said.
Swartbooi accused the commission of abusing its power and claimed the problem may be linked to the LPM’s court challenge over last year’s elections in January.
“We will not give up. We will continue fighting, because only the strong will face such challenges,” he said.
The party’s regional constituency council nominations have, however, been successfully submitted, the LPM leader said.
The dispute follows concerns raised by Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa earlier, who opposed the ECN’s decision to extend the nomination deadline in southern regions dominated by the LPM.
She said the commission should uphold the law and no extension should be granted after the deadline expired.
ECN chief electoral officer Peter Shaama at the time explained that the extension was done in accordance with the Electoral Act, and to also safeguard the integrity and democratic rights of all parties and Namibians.
‘SERIOUS BLOW’
Political analyst Henning Melber says the situation needs to be quickly and amicably resolved.
“It casts more doubt on the ECN’s impartiality if the complaints turn out to be true. For the LPM, the denial of 28 candidates registered for the election would be a serious blow in constituencies, which tend to support the party,” he says.
Melber says the ECN saga seems never-ending and this feeds into concerns that the forthcoming elections might be tampered with.
“Swapo has unfortunately been setting the wrong tone in statements of some of its representatives recently,” he says.
What is urgently needed, Melber says, is a strategy to provide credibility and trust in the electoral process and procedures.
Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah says: “Missing nominations mean they can’t contest in those 28 localities, giving their rivals an easy win.”
This would weaken the LPM’s presence and support base in the south, reducing its political influence, and hurting its image as a strong, organised party, he says.
ECN spokesperson De Wet Siluka yesterday said a clarifying response would be provided in due course.
Popular Democratic Movement lawmaker Maximalliant Katjimune has weighed in on social media, saying administrative law requires flexibility in such matters.
“The ECN should not disqualify political parties based on petty administrative errors, but consider the specific circumstances of each case and the overriding objective of elections,” he says.
He says the right to political activity is contained in Chapter 3 of the Constitution, and such right should not be denied “willy-nilly without exceptional circumstances”.
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