ECN agrees to give requested National Assembly vote numbers to IPC and LPM 

The Electoral Court has ordered the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to provide voting information from Namibia’s National Assembly election to the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM).

The ECN agreed the court could make an order for the information requested by the IPC and LPM to be provided to the parties, which have indicated they want to challenge the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections in November.

The court order on which the ECN and the two political parties agreed states that the information to be provided to the IPC and the LPM will not include anything from election material that is sealed in terms of the Electoral Act.

The information to be provided to the IPC is about the total number of votes cast in the National Assembly election, the total number of votes rejected, the total number of spoilt ballots, the number of voters who cast ballots outside the constituencies in which they are registered, and the total number of votes counted in the National Assembly election.

The court ordered the ECN to provide the LPM with information about the total number of votes cast, rejected votes, spoilt ballots and the total number of votes counted at each polling station in the National Assembly election, as well as the total number of voters who voted outside their registered constituencies.

The information will be made available to the parties on 18 and 19 December, and the parties will have to inspect the information “strictly in the presence of the Namibian Police and ECN officials”, the court’s order states.

The court also ordered that the ECN should invite one person from each political party that participated in the National Assembly election to be present when representatives of the IPC and the LPM inspect the requested information.

The order was issued by acting deputy judge president Nate Ndauendapo and judges Orben Sibeya and Beatrix de Jager.