Africa-Press – Namibia. Members of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) at the southern town of Keetmanshoop, under the stewardship of activist Percy Charlies, have petitioned the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) over what they perceive to be “deliberate irregularities.”
A large number of LPM sympathisers and community members took to the streets to air their grievances over the ECN’s new Political Party and Candidate Management (PPCM) online system, which saw the LPM fail to submit the names of nominated candidates in Rehoboth, Tses, Luderitz, Bethanie, Stampriet, Aranos, and Berseba for this month’s regional councils and local authorities elections.
The PPCM system was introduced last year as an administrative tool intended to aid the Commission, political parties, and candidates in optimising the nomination process, minimising paperwork, and improving due diligence.
According to the party’s petition, the aggrieved demonstrators accused the ECN of deliberate sabotage and said the new online system is unreliable, full of flaws and a “threat to the democratic rights of citizens to vote for the party of their choice.”
“The use of so-called ‘new online registration systems’, which apparently failed during LPM applications, led to the arbitrary rejections of our party’s registrations. Hard copies were submitted where it was required, but the reports claim that only certain constituencies accepted them, meanwhile others rejected them without any clear or justifiable reasons,” said Charlies as he read the petition.
He continued that “We will not stand by while our democracy is undermined. The exclusion of LPM in these elections is not merely a party issue but a national matter that threatens every citizen’s right to vote and to be elected. We demand for a comprehensive review of the digital elections system to ensure future accessibility and reliability for all parties.” The petition was delivered to ECN’s Regional Electoral Officer for ||Kharas Jejamaie Mujoro at the Commission’s office in Keetmanshoop, where LPM members had gathered to demand for answers and an audience with the relevant officers.
No agenda
The ECN has on the other hand denied any “deliberate sabotage or irregularities” against the LPM, maintaining that some of LPM’s local authorities’ submissions were not compliant with the legal requirements around gender proportionality and the allocation of the correct number of candidates as required by law. The Commission, however, said in other towns and villages the LPM successfully submitted nominations well on time and ahead of the 11:00 deadline on 16 October 2025, using the PPCM portal system.
“The Commission which to clarify that the deadline for nominations was 11am on 16 October 2025, and that the LPM did not submit nominations for the local authorities of Rehoboth, Tses, Luderitz, Bethanie, Stampriet, Aranos, and Berseba on that deadline as required and expected of them,” clarified the Commission.
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