Leaders can run for both presidential and parliamentary elections – Venaani

Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani said the Namibian Constitution does not ‘explicitly’ prohibit leaders of political parties from running both for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Venaani said this on Tuesday in response to recent comments made by Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) leader Panduleni Itula.

“If I am elected as president, then I cannot go to parliament. If I am not elected as a president, I can go to the legislature because I am not a member of the executive,” Venaani said.

“There is no legal provision which states that the leader of a political formation is prohibited from contesting in the National Assembly election,” he said.

Itula was quoted last week as indicating he would not run for a parliamentary seat in the 2024 national elections. He will only stand in the presidential election.

Venaani said Itula is inexperienced in law making and he misinterprets the Constitution.

“He is trying to interpret the Constitution as he wants, not the literal meaning of the Constitution. Itula said that the Constitution states that an individual can only serve in the executive, judiciary, or legislative branches due to the principle of separation of powers,” Venaani said.

Venaani accused Itula of confusing matters.

“And I know why he is confusing things, because of his lack of experience in the legislature,” the PDM leader said.

Venaani accused Itula of spewing ‘constitutionally invalid arguments’ about the PDM’s alliance with the United People’s Movement (UPM).

He said the two parties participated in the 2019 National Assembly elections in terms of Section 144(1).

He said the parties further agreed to participate under the name of the Popular Democratic Movement.

“As a result, one can deduce that Dr Itula’s constitutional interpretations are woefully incorrect and serve only to instil doubt in the policies that govern our electoral processes,” said Venaani.

The IPC leader has disputed the legitimacy of the alliance and given the parties two months to prove their legitimacy.

Venaani dismissed Itula’s claims as “absurd and baseless”, adding that his arguments have been debunked by the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).

Itula also implicated the ECN for admitting the PDM and the UPM “as an entity to participate in the elections and further go into our legislative chambers”.

He said Section 143 of the Electoral Act provides that there must be two or more political parties that form a coalition to register as a new entity.

Chief electoral and referendum officer Theo Mujoro denied IPC assertions that PDM participated in the elections as a new entity in a letter dated 21 April.

Mujoro wrote that the PDM and UPM participated as an alliance in terms of Section 144.

Mujoro was replying to an IPC letter in which the party requested a copy of the coalition agreement between the PDM and the UPM, as well as a meeting with the electoral commission.

Itula declined to comment on Venaani’s sentiments as well as IPC questioning the legitimacy of the PDM-UPM alliance.

IPC national general secretary Christine !Aochamus, also declined to comment on Venaani’s remarks, including the ECN letter.

“Should the ECN require any further information, they should communicate to the IPC, we are doing so in confidence at this stage with the ECN.

“Our position shall be absolved by the substantive nature of the available laws and authorities, underscoring our constitutional democracy,” she said.