United People’s Movement (UPM) vice president Jan van Wyk has rejected a threat of legal action made by Panduleni Itula, the leader of Independent Patriots for Change (IPC).
“He is just confused,” he said yesterday.
Before 2019’s national elections, the (PDM and the UPM made a pact to create an alliance.
During the IPC’s consultative meeting in Windhoek on Saturday, Itula challenged the authenticity of the PDM-UPM alliance, arguing that it is not recognised by the Electoral Act of 2014.
Van Wyk, however, rejected Itula’s sentiments.
“He is just talking about Section 143, but he didn’t go down to Section 144,” Van Wyk yesterday told The Namibian.
The UPM parliamentarian said there was no merger between the two political parties – contrary to Itula’s assertions.
“It is an alliance, not a coalition,” he said, adding that they have complied with the provisions of Section 144 of the Electoral Act.
Section 144 (1) provides that if two or more registered political parties form an alliance, each party remains a separate registered political party.
They are also required to furnish the electoral commission with a copy of the agreement of alliance.
It further states that each candidate in an election be identified on the ballot paper by the symbol of his or her political party.
An alliance is defined in Section 144 (4) as the “advancement of common political goals with the intention of securing common political interests between two or more parties”.
During the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections, the UPM managed to increase its seats in parliament to two.
Van Wyk said the alliance with the PDM was driven by the common goal of breaking Swapo’s dominance in parliament.
“The main objective was to try to break Swapo’s two-thirds majority. I think it worked well, although Swapo managed to retain a majority,” he said, adding the UPM remains open to forming alliances for the 2024 elections.
THREAT
Speaking at the IPC consultative meeting in Windhoek on Saturday, Itula also implicated the Electoral Commission of Namibia in admitting the PDM and 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 where two or more political parties merge from 28 August 2019, the registration of the respective parties before the agreement lapses does not exist any more.
“And that new entity is obliged by law to re-register as a political party. Does the PDM exist? And they have to answer that question. And we give them 60 days to answer the question,” Itula said.
Should they fail to answer the questions, Itula warned that “we’ll seek a judicial review of the existence of the PDM and the legitimacy of PDM representatives in the chambers, and those of UPM in the chambers”.
Itula was speaking to members of the party’s national executive council, who gathered to discuss 2024 election campaign tactics.
Political commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah says it is not important that the IPC pursue the PDM-UPM alliance.
“I don’t know the constitutional validity of his argument, but from my understanding, I don’t think the two parties merged.
“And really, I don’t think that is tangent enough for the IPC to be concerned about that particular issue,” he says.
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