Allexer Namundjembo
The Affirmative Repositioning’s (AR) leader, Job Amupanda has accused both the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) and President Nangolo Mbumba of violating the Electoral Act by failing to decree additional public holidays for extended voting days.
He made these remarks during a media briefing on Monday.
“The President decreed 27 November as a public holiday, which is in accordance with the electoral act. But what is not right is when he extended the voting days, and he did not decree the 29th as a public holiday as per the act. This alone tells us that something is not right, as all this was done during the night when everyone was sleeping,’ Amupanda said.
He argued that the lack of a public holiday on the extended voting days disadvantaged employed voters.
“We have our people who went to vote in their regions. Someone travelled to Otjinene to go and vote there because it was a public holiday. All of a sudden the person did not manage to vote because the ECN failed to provide enough ballots. The person is then given another day to vote, but he/she is expected to report to their duty stations because it was a normal working day. The ECN suppressed the voters!” Amupanda said.
He also accused the president and the ECN of failing to consult the important stakeholders when deciding to extend the voting days.
Amupanda said the ECN has also accepted that the elections were not free and fair.
“They have admitted that the elections were not free nor fair. In their statement, they acknowledged the shortages of ballots and the so-called technicalities. Those factors disfranchised the people in terms of exercising their rights. Where have you seen fair and free elections taking place, and people are in queues voting and the results are being announced at the same time?” the question.
While several opposition parties are rallying behind the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) to challenge the election results, the AR has opted for an independent legal route.
The parties, such as the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and the Namibia Democratic Party (NDP), are also not part of the IPC-led alliance.
McHenry Venaani, the chairperson of the opposition alliance, has declined to comment on the progress the parties have made in registering the case.
“As a matter of legal strategy, I am not at liberty to divulge such,” Venaani said.
