Decision to extend voting period illegal – experts

Experts say the decision taken by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to extend voting is questionable.

On Wednesday, a directive was issued that polling stations should be kept open after 21h00 due to ballot paper shortages and verification machine malfunctions.

Lawyer Henry Shimutwikeni yesterday told The Namibian the act doesn’t speak to that.

“The president is allowed to determine what the polling day is. On the 26 September, the president in a Government Gazette, on the advice of the ECN, declared 27 November to be election day from 07h00 in the morning to 21h00 in the evening,” he said.

Shimutwikeni said there is no provision which says the president can then make a declaration on the day of election to extend it to the next.
He said it would be a generous interpretation of the law.

“Someone was there before 21h00, then one could perhaps interpret it and say that they were there to cast their vote on polling day and, therefore, should be allowed to vote.

“But if there’s voting stations that are still open on the 28th, people walking in and out, it makes it very difficult to understand,” he said.

Legal Assistance Centre director Toni Hancox yesterday said what was reported on polling day could constitute voter suppression.

“If you are not able to vote because the queues are too long or the ballot papers are not enough, the term would be voter suppression, meaning they are making it so difficult for you to vote that you have been disenfranchised.

“The act does say that the times can be changed but that should be prior to the actual polling day, which wasn’t done here,” she said.

She said the issue could be taken to the Supreme Court as court of first instance. “Any challenge relating to the outcome would be heard on an urgent basis there. It’s a constitutional right,” she said.

In 2020, the Supreme Court in Namibia upheld the results of the 2019 elections after the elections were challenged because of the use of electronic voting machines without a verifiable paper trail.

The court then said the challengers failed to prove Swapo manipulated the machines.

“The question now is whether this is ‘serious’ enough to actually overturn the election or not,” Hancox added.

“If we see democracy has become a mockery, we will definitely stand against that. . . How can we say every Namibian has a right to vote but we have already told those people to go home,” National Unity Democratic Organisation deputy secretary general Joseph Uapingene says.

Uapingene says the parties are ready to challenge the elections.

“We can’t sit idle while we witness such atrocities being committed by the ECN without anyone being held accountable,” Affirmative Repositioning’s George Kambala says.Landless People’s Movement spokesperson Lifalaza Simaata echoes Kambala’s comments, saying his party cannot trust the elections to be transparent.

“Because there is a lack of accountability at the ECN, we cannot trust the leadership currently to continue with this process. We have called for the resignation of the leaders,” he says.

Speaking to Desert FM on Thursday, Popular Democratic Movement secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe said his party will not accept a government that is forced on people.

“We shall rise and go to the streets of Namibia and say no to these elections,” Ngaringombe said.

Ngaringombe, together with other parties, also called for the resignation of the entire commission at the ECN.

“For a person not to vote because of the ECN is very disappointing . . . If you blame the Swapo government, I understand because even political (Swapo) party leaders have the right to give directives to directors and ministers. We give directives on a daily basis.

But with ECN, the powers of the president end with the appointments of those individuals,” he said. Rui Tyitende on Thursday, described the election process as being marred by controversy.” This is the worst election that has ever been conducted in the history in Namibia.

We are heading towards the Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe. Swapo knows they have an image problem and that they have lost ground in certain areas,” he said.

The analyst said the ECN needs to establish the overall number of voters to determine if a high number of Namibians were excluded.

“If the figure is significant, we need to cancel the entire electron, unfortunately.” “The appointing authorities need to fire all of these people.

The electoral commissioners and executive need to go,” he said.

Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) president Mike Kavekotora says some people went back home and did not exercise their democratic rights.

“If you take all these things into consideration and ask yourself, should I trust the outcome of this election? The answer to RDP is a complete no,” he says.