Confusion clouds Keetmans by-election

The Keetmanshoop Rural constituency by-election will start this morning, clouded by controversy after Landless People’s Movement (LPM) Leader Bernadus Swartbooi on Saturday claimed new voters were irregularly registered.

LPM supporters converged at the Keetmanshoop Police Station on Saturday, accusing the police and electoral officials of smuggling voting material in the dead of the night.

Swartbooi claimed the registration was being done without consulting the town’s residents.

However, Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) chief electoral officer Theo Mujoro has denied these allegations.

In a video circulating on social media, Swartbooi claims the additional voter registration was done with the knowledge of Swapo and the police.

“We consulted the ECN as well as the commission’s chairperson to ask why they have excluded us from the consultation of the additional voters’ registration that will take place on the 13th and 14th – a completely abnormal situation.

“Subsequent to their decision that was announced at 4 o’clock on Friday which (was) meant to start on Saturday, we found that at the Keetmanshoop Police Station 120 people suddenly registered their need for voters’ cards by coming and completing what you call a police declaration,” he said.

Several political parties are contesting in the poll, which comes after the suspension of then LPM’s Gerit Witbooi from the //Kharas Regional Council after he was accused of leaking confidential information to the public.

Witbooi, who is contesting as an independent candidate, took aim at his former party, accusing it of nonsensical behaviour based on unfounded allegations.

“It is not true what they allege. It’s just that the ECN had come late, according to my sources, and they wanted to put sensitive material for the proposed duplication process in a storeroom.

“So someone tipped off (LPM supporters) and said they were people from the ECN (attempting to smuggle material).
“There was nothing to fuss about . . . You can’t behave like that without substantive evidence.

“It’s the same people who had started the process for the by-election,” he said.

Witbooi expressed hopes of winning the poll, saying he still had support from the electorate.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the ECN also slammed the LPM for making “baseless and unfounded allegations”.

“The commission would like to state that such allegations are baseless and devoid of any truth. Another falsehood being circulated on different media is that the ECN is planning to issue new voters’ cards.

“This is totally untrue. The exercise is only applicable to the issuance of duplicate voter registration cards to already registered voters in the Keetmanshoop Rural constituency whose voter registration cards are lost, destroyed or for any reason illegible,” Mujoro said in a statement.

However, the statement fails to address why the ECN has issued duplicate voters’ cards less than a day before the by-election.

It does not state whether interested parties would be able to verify that the voters’ roll is up to date, or the likelihood of issuing duplicates for deceased people or those who no longer live in the constituency.

Mujoro referred The Namibian to the commission’s statement, before promising to address questions.

The ECN was empowered by the Electoral Act to issue duplicate voters’ cards on 13 and 14 May in the Keetmanshoop Rural constituency, he said.

“Therefore, in the interest of voters, the issuance of duplicate voters’ registration cards will continue as planned to afford an opportunity to voters who need duplicate voters’ cards to obtain such,” Mujoro said.

In the meantime, former LPM deputy Keetmanshoop mayor Charlcyta Cooper said she is confident Swapo would win this round.

She defected to the ruling party after she was accused of corruption and causing discord within the LPM, allegations she denies.

“I am very happy, and I am positive that the Swapo party can win this by-election. People must just go and vote for the Swapo candidate and they will see the results after the elections,” she said.

LPM member Ivan Skrywer says he saw ECN members in possession of ballot boxes in the absence of political parties on Friday night.

“When these officials saw me, they ran up to the first floor and hid in a storeroom. After engaging acting //Kharas commander Hamukoto, it was agreed that both the police and political party leaders would remain on guard at the door until ECN staff and other stakeholders were present to open the boxes and verify the allegations,” he says.