Staff Writer
THE Electoral Commission Namibia (ECN) has denied reports that it rejected the Affirmative Repositioning Movement (AR)’s application to register as a political party.
This comes after news reports indicated that ECN had rejected the AR’s application.
The outgoing Chief Electoral and Referendum Officer, Theo Mujoro, said they are currently processing the AR’s application to ensure compliance with sections 135 and 136 of the Electoral Act No.4 of 2014 about the requirements for political party registration.
“It is currently being scrutinised at a technical administrative level and will only be submitted to the Commission for consideration after that,” Mujoro said.
The ECN rejected the reports suggesting that AR’s application was rejected, arguing that such reports are devoid of any truth and are totally misleading.
An English daily reported that the ECN was not entirely satisfied with the AR’s, and had sent it back for fine-tuning.
The newspaper quoted the ECN’s spokesperson Mulauli Siluka, confirming the application had been sent back the application although he did not reveal the specific reasons why it was not favourably considered.
Siluka was quoted saying that the AR submitted its application to register as a political party in June 2023.
“On 26 June, the ECN received the application to register as a political party from AR. The application process is ongoing to ensure it complies with the provisions of the Electoral Act that stipulates the requirements for the registration of political parties,” Siluka said.
Some of the Act’s requirements are that the applicant should submit a declaration signed by at least 3 500 persons, distributed evenly from a minimum of seven regions, whose names appear on the national voters’ register to the effect that they support the registration of the political party.
AR’s legal head Maitjituavi Kavetu said the movement is addressing ECN’s concerns.
“We are unable to comment on that matter. We will handle it with ECN, but it is quite a minor issue,” Kavetu said.
The plan to transform into a political movement comes almost a decade after the pressure group was formed, a period which saw AR leaders stating on several occasions that they had no plans to pursue political ambitions.
If given the nod by the electoral body, AR will be able to contest in next year’s general elections as well as field a candidate for the presidential elections.
One of AR’s founders, Job Amupanda , has already publicly announced his plans to run for president next year by making several pronouncements and anointing himself as the ‘incoming president’.
