{"id":36407,"date":"2022-12-21T18:48:11","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T18:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi"},"modified":"2022-12-21T19:10:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T19:10:18","slug":"electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi","title":{"rendered":"Electoral law must protect local communities \u2013 Swartbooi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>THE leader of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Bernadus Swartbooi, says the country’s electoral law needs to clearly distinguish between a registered voter’s place of work and place of residency during the registration process.<\/p>\n

Swartbooi says the current system has created a lack of democracy for local communities.<\/p>\n

He says some communities have been overlooked and excluded by residents of other regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, with the construction of an army base, certain army officers would be brought in to outnumber certain communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese military officers will be allowed to register for regional and local authority elections. These are the real problems that could undermine our democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Omaheke, where the tarred road is being built, communities have already expressed their concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there is a narrative, and it’s a problem. People in those localities should have a genuine voice in their own governance . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Swartbooi said this last week during a two-day stakeholders’ consultation on amendments to the Electoral Act of 2014 in Windhoek.<\/p>\n

He was commenting on a discussion on Section 22, which refers the requirements for registering as a voter.<\/p>\n

The ECN said the section provides that prospective voters should register in the areas they reside in, and not where they are originally from.<\/p>\n

It was also proposed that the ECN introduces a system through which an individual, who finds himself or herself in a particular constituency during registration, is enabled to register, and that the ECN should ensure the registration is captured in the constituency where the individual resides.<\/p>\n

The abolition of tendered votes was also discussed, since in the past this has resulted in a 200% voter turnout in some constituencies.<\/p>\n

However, the ECN said this issue is being addressed in the amendment bill.<\/p>\n

The commission rejected calls by political parties for the chief electoral and referenda officer to be appointed for a three-year period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe electoral cycle is five years, and if the chief’s term of office is only three years, it will be too disruptive. Therefore, a five-year term is acceptable,\u201d the ECN stated.<\/p>\n

The electoral body also rejected a proposal for election commissioners to serve for only three years, saying it would be \u201ctoo disruptive\u201d.<\/p>\n

AUDIT<\/p>\n

Another point of discussion was that the auditor general should still audit the ECN’s books \u2013 even if the electoral body becomes fully independent.<\/p>\n

The commission said this is a new addition to the draft electoral amendment bill.<\/p>\n

This prospect was, however, questioned by representatives of political parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ECN wants to be independent, yet they are giving away functions to the auditor general. This means political parties would have to deal with the ECN on some matters and with the auditor general on others,\u201d the minutes of the consultative workshop reads.<\/p>\n

The ECN, however, says being audited by the auditor general \u201chas no bearing on the issue of the ECN’s independence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Auditor general Junias Kandjeke during the meeting said he does not resort under the public service.<\/p>\n

He said the auditor general does not report to the government, but directly to the National Assembly.<\/p>\n

Another issue raised was subjecting electoral officers to lifestyle audits.<\/p>\n

The ECN said it has taken note of the proposal.<\/p>\n

Kandjeke said the auditor general does not have prosecutorial authority, adding that public institutions must abide by a public service code of conduct to deal with irregularities and corrupt practices.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. THE leader of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM), Bernadus Swartbooi, says the country’s electoral law needs to clearly distinguish between a registered voter’s place of work and place of residency during the registration process. Swartbooi says the current system has created a lack of democracy for local communities. He says some communities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":36406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-36407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nElectoral law must protect local communities \u2013 Swartbooi - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE leader of the Landless People's Movement (LPM), Bernadus Swartbooi, says the country's electoral law needs to clearl ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electoral law must protect local communities \u2013 Swartbooi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE leader of the Landless People's Movement (LPM), Bernadus Swartbooi, says the country's electoral law needs to clearl ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T18:48:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T19:10:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671635904.70.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Electoral law must protect local communities \u2013 Swartbooi\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-21T18:48:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-21T19:10:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi\"},\"wordCount\":579,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671635904.70.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/electoral-law-must-protect-local-communities-swartbooi\",\"name\":\"Electoral law must protect local communities \u2013 Swartbooi - 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