NEFF says ECN is deliberately delaying its party campaign after commission is declared ready for elections

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has been declared ready to conduct November’s elections, despite the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) still not being re-registered as a political party.

The Electoral Commissions Forum of Southern African Development Countries (ECF-SADC) last week made this declaration.

The NEFF says the electoral body is dragging its feet on implementing the High Court order to recognise it as a party after it was deregistered.

The ECF-SADC dispatched a team to Namibia on Friday to assess the ECN’s readiness.

The team was led by Priscilla Chigumba of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, who has been accused by opposition parties in Zimbabwe of rigging elections in favour of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa described Zimbabwe’s 2023 election as “shambolic”.

The same election was also highly criticised by the SADC observer mission chaired by former Zambian vice president Nervous Mumba, who said it failed to meet the regional body’s guidelines on free and fair elections.

“The team is deployed in line with the revised principles for election management, monitoring and observation in the SADC region, where pre-assessment missions are deployed to the host country ahead of the elections to ascertain whether preconditions exist for the ECF-SADC to dispatch an observer mission,” the ECN says.

The commission says it has already set the ball rolling in a bid to gather a team of local observers to monitor the upcoming elections in line with Section 56 of the Electoral Act.

However, in a statement issued on Sunday, NEFF deputy leader Kalimbo Iipumbu says the playing field is not level because his party is yet to be recognised by the ECN – despite a High Court judgement.

The NEFF took the ECN to court to argue that its deregistration was carried out without the party being given a chance to be heard.

The court found in the NEFF’s favour after the commission accused the party of failing to publish its audited accounting records.

The NEFF, however, continues to be in limbo after the ECN announced that it is still studying the court judgement.
“We have witnessed a deliberate delay intended to short-change and undermine the NEFF’s mobilisation efforts ahead of these critical polls,” Iipumbu says.

He says the delay is a calculated act that has denied the NEFF’s leadership the right to serve in parliament and hinders the party’s ability to campaign effectively.

“Its egregious aim has been to punish the NEFF in a manner that is both vile and cruel, going against the foundational principles of our democracy.

“It is tragic that the ECF-SADC has failed to recognise this and proceeded to declare that Namibia is ready for elections,” he says.

Iipumbu says the ECN’s continued study of the court judgement is intended to make it difficult for the NEFF to prepare for the elections adequately and in time.

He says the ECN has so far failed to release the NEFF’s funds which are needed to mobilise its election campaign.
ECN spokesperson Mulauli Siluka did not respond to The Namibian and Desert Radio at the time of going to print yesterday.