Africa-Press – Namibia. POLITICAL analysts have challenged the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) and the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) to acquaint themselves with electoral laws.
This comes after the two lost a Supreme Court case in which six members of the PDM were removed from the party’s parliamentary candidate list about three years ago.
The six were eventually replaced unprocedurally, the Supreme Court said.
Speaking to Desert Radio 95.3FM yesterday, political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah and Institute for Public Policy Research parliamentary researcher Bradly Tjongerero said the decision by both the ECN and PDM to appeal the High Court’s decision was ill advised and could have been avoided.
Kamwanya said the judgement exposes a failure to interpret electoral laws by those expected to do so.
The same sentiments were echoed by lawyer Norman Tjombe, who said the judgement is a wake-up call for politicians to know they cannot “willy nilly” change party lists without considering the needs of the electorate.
Tjongarero said the ruling was not a surprise because the Electoral Court was clear on its ruling – specifically at looking at the unconstitutionality of the party list being changed after an election.
“This is something we already looked at last year, so it was essentially just an appeal of the 2020 Electoral Court ruling.
“I think the ruling by the Electoral Court was also quite clear in terms of what it indicated and how it came to be that it was unconstitutional for the party list to be changed after the elections,” Tjongarero said.
“I think obviously the impact will likely adversely affect parliament, but if we look at the substantive contribution of those six members of parliament (MPs) who were now in place it is not really that much,” he said.
He claimed the ruling has caused a rift within the PDM because the initial court ruling was not followed through by the party and it proceeded to the Supreme Court.
Tjongarero said the two PDM members who actually took the matter to court were probably within their rights or were instigated by the party.
Kamwanyah said the decision shows that legal components and procedures were followed by the justice system.
He said as a political party, one presents their candidates and voters based on the nature of the candidates listed.
“What happened is that the people who were there later on were removed, and that is what the judgement is all about.
“The majority who were removed from parliament are mostly from one ethnic group, and it does not do well for a political party to be seen as dominated by one ethnic group,” Kamwanyah said.
He said the party must adhere to the court ruling to avoid causing conflict between its members.
Kamwanya said there is already a distinction between the losers of the PDM and the ECN.
“There is no room for reconciliation or members to engage with each other. The problem is they have to go back to the drawing board and make sure they have a dialogue as members of the same party,” he said.
He said he foresees some trouble in terms of party unity.
“It’s an interesting case . . . This is a learning curve for both the PDM, the ECN and everybody. The laws must be interpreted and respected as such,” Kamwanyah said.
Tjombe told Desert Radio that the judgement will have far-reaching implications on the political and electoral set-up going forward.
“We now have to get clarity from at least six judges. Remember the Electoral Court consists of three judges so that the political party cannot change or remove a list of names of candidates to the National Assembly after the election.”
Meanwhile, ECN chief electoral officer ,Theo Mujoro says they are consulting internally on the judgement for a way forward.
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