Allexer Namundjembo
Graham Hopwood, the director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has warned that if an election rerun is ordered by the court, there will be insufficient time to organise new elections before the 21 March deadline for the new administration.
Hopwood made these remarks at the Election Fact Check Coalition review conference on Wednesday.
“We would be in uncharted territory. We have to be thinking about constitutional amendments to extend encumbrance offices until the election is organised. But I am not saying it would happen,” he said.
The Independent Patriots for Change have launched applications in the Supreme Court challenging the presidential election as well as in the Electoral Court challenging the National Assembly election.
The Supreme Court matter will return to court for a status hearing on the allocation of dates on 03 February.
The electoral court has been put on hold until the Supreme Court has decided a similar case about the 2024 presidential election.
Though he said that these scenarios are not certain, Hopwood said it’s crucial to prepare for any possibility.
“The electoral courts look like they wouldn’t decide on these issues until the end of next month, towards the end of next month, then we have some scenarios that we need to start thinking about without saying these scenarios are necessarily going to happen,” he said.
Hopwood is of the opinion that Namibia could be a role model for the development of an injection of democracy.
“We could be getting a lot of things right when other governments around the world are getting things badly wrong. And that’s why it’s disappointing that this previous election is unfortunately mired in a lot of controversy. I think we are fortunate that we are a peaceful country,” he said.
The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) are seeking that both the National Assembly and presidential election results be nullified.
The two parties have approached both the electoral and the Supreme Court to set aside the election results, alleging that the ECN and the president acted unlawfully to extend election dates, among other reasons.
In his court statement, IPC leader Panduleni Itula said everything that occurred before 27 November 2024 was lawful and must be maintained, but what occurred after that must be set aside.
He argued that an election cannot be free and fair where it is tainted by serious illegality on the part of the president and the Elections Commission of Namibia (ECN).
“The commission did not have the power to recommend the extension of an election, and the president did not have the power to extend the election,” Itula said.
On the other hand, the LPM is saying that polling stations suffered from logistical challenges that the ECN ought to have been better prepared for because of the time given to them for such work, like the shortage of ballot papers.
The LPM in their statement indicated that their interest in the case is to vindicate the rule of law in proceedings to safeguard the democratic process.
“We seek if the votes from the lawful extension cannot be separated from the lawful election, and if not, the entire election must be invalidated,” the statement reads.
