Unseating Swapo cannot be sole reason for coalitions – Itula

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Unseating Swapo cannot be sole reason for coalitions – Itula
Unseating Swapo cannot be sole reason for coalitions – Itula

Africa-Press – Namibia. INDEPENDENT Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula says forming coalitions for the sole purpose of unseating Swapo is ill-conceived and would not be beneficial to the respective political parties involved in the long run.

Speaking at a party meeting on Saturday at Gobabis, he said such coalitions would be geared for failure if the sole factor bringing the political parties together was a ‘common enemy’.

Itula noted that a lot more needs to be done to determine if the different parties’ ideologies, principles and visions speak to each other before a commitment to a coalition could be made.

“We cannot blindly commit to something without determining if it will benefit IPC and its members. If our principles and reason for existence don’t fit with other political parties, how do we put forth a united front in the form of a coalition?

“Also, we need to answer at what stages do we form coalitions – during campaigning or after elections? It is not as easy as people put these things out to be,” he said.

Itula said history has shown that political coalitions do not work, as parties often find it hard to determine who will lead such coalitions and the order of names for parliamentary lists in the case of National Assembly elections.

“Deciding who goes to parliament is important in any coalition. First of all, will the parties to a coalition merge into one new political formation, or would some parties cease their identities and adopt other parties’ identities to contest as a coalition?

“All these questions need honest, realistic answers before we even consider committing to anything,” he said.

IPC has been on a country-wide tour recruiting members and establishing branches in preparation for the 2024 elections.

The party launched its campaign for that election earlier this year, and has since taken to the road visiting remote places in regions such as Omaheke, Kavango East, Hardap and Otjozondjupa.

The Gobabis gathering also culminated in the establishment of a new branch to head groundwork activities in the Omaheke region.

The idea of political formations before elections has been mooted over the years, but none so far has stood the test of time.

While coalitions after elections, especially on the heels of the 2015 regional councils and local authority elections, have proven to produce results, coalitions before elections have so far proven difficult.

The idea has, however, come to the fore once again recently, with political parties such as the Popular Democratic Movement, Rally for Democracy and Progress, Swanu and Nudo committing to coalition talks.

Meanwhile, political analyst and Institute for Public Policy Research executive director Graham Hopwood last week told The Namibian elements such as ideology and party identity should be huge factors of consideration if parties want to form a coalition.

He, however, added that Swapo could survive through a coalition, as the ruling party could form their own coalition-like agreements with other parties.

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