{"id":80863,"date":"2024-11-20T13:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parties-decry-dirty-campaigns"},"modified":"2024-11-20T13:02:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T13:02:00","slug":"parties-decry-dirty-campaigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/parties-decry-dirty-campaigns","title":{"rendered":"Parties decry \u2018dirty\u2019 campaigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span> <\/b><\/p>\n

As elections beckon, various political parties have deployed measures to ensure their members adhere to the Electoral Code of Conduct, thereby ensuring peaceful elections.<\/p>\n

The parties have also condemned mudslinging and other dirty campaign tactics by political adversaries that have become a regular feature in the local political theatre.<\/p>\n

This week, Landless People\u2019s Movement (LPM) spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa said they have integrated the code of conduct into their civic education kit to ensure that members are well-informed. This is to curb election intimidation and violence.<\/p>\n

He noted that the LPM has trained its leaders across the country to maintain order.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, volunteers are trained and informed of how they should conduct themselves and de-escalate situations, or completely avoid altercations,\u201d Simataa said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the ruling party has been using their election campaign to caution members to respect the rule of law, and to refrain from violence or using inflammatory language while canvassing for votes.<\/p>\n

Swapo Party Youth League secretary Ephraim Nekongo confirmed that there was indeed maturity on \u201cthe side of our supporters throughout the campaign, and our members have been adhering to the election set rules.\u201d He said Swapo has advocated respect for the rule of law, and the election code of conduct has been a pillar of their campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message has been clear, which is \u2018vote for Swapo, for Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Throughout our campaign,<\/p>\n

we have not received any reports of our members and supporters intimidating or clashing with other political parties,\u201d Nekongo said.<\/p>\n

He added that while their campaign has been peaceful, there has been political intimidation and violence in election campaigns by opposition parties, especially the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC).<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of focusing on their campaign and selling their manifesto and candidates, the IPC has been facilitating and spreading propaganda through social media against the Swapo Party and its presidential candidate. Throughout their campaign, they have been using hate speech, insults and posting false claims against Swapo,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), the IPC and the United People\u2019s Movement (UPM) have likewise cautioned their members and sympathisers to refrain from campaign misconduct and intimidation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing with the code of conduct is this misinformation campaign t<\/p>\n

hat is around \u2013 people deliberately making social media misinformation. It is bad for the good conduct of elections, so parties must refrain from it. But generally, we respect the code of conduct, and our members must comply with its dictates,\u201d PDM leader McHenry Venaani said.<\/p>\n

Bringing the patriots\u2019 voice to the discourse was spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge, who said, \u201cOur move is to make sure our position is to deal with anyone within the IPC who is exhibiting attitudes towards other political leaders.\u201d On his part, UPM\u2019s Jan van Wyk said he does not condone political violence in any form. \u201cWe remain in close contact with leaders on the ground, and have not encountered any acts of violence at this stage,\u201d the politician stated.<\/p>\n

Incidents<\/p>\n

Reflecting on some incidents, the LPM said they have suffered from alleged political intolerance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first being a Swapo Rehoboth councillor, who was campaigning with torn LPM membership cards and recording it. The second incident was that of Swapo members intimidating individuals on the outskirts of Tsumeb, and taking their voters\u2019 cards from them so that they could pretend on social media that they are recruiting LPM members,\u201d Simataa claimed.<\/p>\n

He further alleged that in Oranjemund, a Swapo member drove into the LPM convoy to disrupt a public engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a Swapo convoy leader who began to instigate and antagonise an LPM team which was putting up flags, and hurling insults and antagonising our members, which then led to an altercation, but was quickly resolved,\u201d Simataa said.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Swapo and LPM members clashed in the Hardap region, where the two parties were conducting campaigns during the same weekend. A video of suspected LPM members or supporters shown removing Swapo flags and replacing them with LPM flags went viral on social media recently.<\/p>\n

At the time, the LPM distanced itself from the act, maintaining the individuals in the video were not members of that party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a party of order, and it is our responsibility to abide by the law,\u201d LPM youth leader Duminga Ndala was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

Also, Nashinge confirmed intimidation incidents during their election campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs political parties, the issue of intimidation, especially from the ruling party, happens daily all over the country. But because our party is guided by the rule of law, we have educated our members and followers to ignore unnecessary provocations and the like,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Political tolerance<\/p>\n

Additionally, Venaani acknowledged the significance of having the electoral code of conduct in place ahead of elections.<\/p>\n

He said his party had not encountered serious intimidation throughout the electoral process, except for minor issues in the northern parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur posters are being taken down,\u201d he addressed.<\/p>\n

He further gave an example of his encounter at Helao Nafidi town.<\/p>\n

\u201cHelao Nafidi people claim that all the poles [for flags] are already paid for by Swapo, something that is very irregular, and does not conform to the code of conduct for real political participation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/p>\n

By signing the code, political parties agreed not to use violence, threaten violence, or incite or encourage the use of violence against anyone on account of his or her political opinions, membership in or support of a political party, political organisation or candidate, or participation in the election.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the code of conduct prohibits political parties and their candidates and members from propagating, publishing, circulating in public or through other means of communication or publication, including social media platforms, false or defamatory allegations, or any other baseless or inflammatory allegations about another political party, political organisation or its candidates, members or supporters.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the signing of the electoral code of conduct, Electoral Commission of Namibia chairperson Elsie Nghikembua urged political parties to foster an environment where free and fair elections can take place.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf late, the commission has observed deliberate acts of misinformation and allegations made to tarnish our image and spark distrust.<\/p>\n

It is not only detrimental to our electoral democracy, but also to our beautiful country. We should all join hands here to stop the spread of fake news and disinformation,\u201d she urged.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Namibia. As elections beckon, various political parties have deployed measures to ensure their members adhere to the Electoral Code of Conduct, thereby ensuring peaceful elections. The parties have also condemned mudslinging and other dirty campaign tactics by political adversaries that have become a regular feature in the local political theatre. This week, Landless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":80862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-80863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-parties","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nParties decry \u2018dirty\u2019 campaigns - Namibia<\/title>\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\/parties-decry-dirty-campaigns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parties decry \u2018dirty\u2019 campaigns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Namibia. 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