Rudolf Gaiseb
Political parties have reiterated their stance that the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) cannot handpick a printing company for ballot papers in the absence of a fair and transparent bidding process.
This development has raised concerns about transparency and fairness in selecting a printer for the ballot papers, which parties say could potentially lead to the rigging of elections. During an ECN meeting with members of the political parties’ liaison committee (PLC) last week, the commission provided an update on the procurement process for ballot papers for the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections. According to the ECN, the ballot paper tenders were advertised through the International Open Bidding (IOB) process on 9 September 2024.
However, the ECN is now being accused of trying to halt that procurement process and select a service provider of its choice.
The ECN allegedly fears ballots might not be printed on time for the crucial 27 November elections.
In a statement on 2 October 2024, the commission, however, asserted that all electoral activities, inclusive of the procurement of the requisite materials, remain on track and the commission is resolute in ensuring the prospective bidder meets all requirements as per the bid specifications.
“The commission is fully dedicated to fostering trust and collaboration among key stakeholders involved in the electoral process and ensuring they are kept abreast in the build-up to the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections, hence these constant engagements,” the commission stated. On Saturday, Popular Democratic Movement leader McHenry Venaani said his party opposed a proposal by the ECN to handpick a company to print the ballot papers for the upcoming elections. “We take strong exception to such irresponsible conduct. ECN knew from the onset that we were going to have an election on 27 November. “ECN, together with their masters, want to handpick a company that is going to print the election materials. PDM is saying an unequivocal no,” said Venaani.
He said his party is concerned that if the ECN is allowed to choose its preferred bidder, it could stuff ballot boxes.
Landless People Movement’s spokesperson, Lifazala Simataa, said in an interview with New Era, the matter had been raised in two meetings with ECN before.
“ECN should have been diligent in ensuring an open tender occurs because of how tight their schedule was.
They expressed in their meeting that one of their staff members was “sleeping on the job,” and because of time constraints, they felt they had to now go for direct procurement, which we do not stand for because that means they’re selecting who’s going to be. They will select based on their own criteria who they think is best fit for them; one of the most delicate and most important parts of the election is the ballot paper,” Simataa said, adding that a lot can go wrong in that regard, depending on who ECN chooses. “Because of the chosen person, we don’t think it necessarily is going to be the best fit or necessarily might be the most transparent or most unbiased pick, because again, it’s someone that was selected by the ECN, which we do have questions upon. They were aware of the tight schedule, but they did not ensure they were going to keep to this tight schedule,” Simataa added.
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda took to social media, expressing discontent at ECN’s endeavours.
“They want to appoint a company secretly without following a public tender. This means a Swapo-connected company will print ballots. The AR will not allow corruption of this kind. There must be a transparent and open tender and not a secret appointment of a Swapo-connected company without following tender procedures. When liberation movements start losing power, they tend to rely on ‘mafia styles’ like in Zimbabwe. We won’t allow our democracy to be stolen by Swapo, ECN, and Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF),” he posted on Facebook.
Rally for Democracy and Progress leader Mike Kavekotora said the party’s stance on the matter is unambiguous.
“Based on past experiences and dealings with ECN, there is no way they should be entrusted with such responsibility.
ECN does not have a clean record to be given such responsibility. The date for the upcoming elections was announced and known to them, and they had ample time to prepare for this important event. What blocked them from doing so? What subsequent event would necessitate such a move? If there was any, why were the stakeholders not informed?” he questioned.
“ECN did things in the past that tarnished their name and reputation. It is now up to them to rebuild that trust by running free, fair, and credible elections and not coming up with questionable proposals. ECN must do things right and do the right things and not come up with nonsensical excuses,” he added. South West Africa National Union (Swanu) representative Evalistus Kaaronda said: “Our stance is that we prefer an open bid for transparency and roader participation.” Martin Lukato of the National Democratic Party (NDP) also pronounced himself on the matter. “We totally disagree with the ECN’s proposal. As usual, I have advised the ECN not to make decisions without the approval of all registered political parties, stakeholders, and the public. But unfortunately, they haven’t taken my word. The printing of ballot papers for the elections in a country is a very sensitive issue that needs proper engagement with all stakeholders to agree on principles.”
To conduct elections, Lukato believes ECN needs an independent, neutral, transparent, and responsible institution for the printing of ballot papers.
The ECN last Monday released the final voter register, marking a key step in the electoral process before the general elections. ECN chairperson Elsie Nghikembua officially announced the final statistics for the voter’s register, with a total of 1 449 569 registered voters, representing 90% of the eligible voters. The final tally showed a decrease of 0.13% from the provisional voter’s register, which had preliminary statistics of 1 451 444, which the ECN released on 29 October 2024.
-rrgaiseb@gmail.com