Iuze Mukube
An urgent application brought before the Windhoek High Court by a faction of the Christian Democratic Voice (CDV), fell flat on Monday, and was struck from the roll by Judge Kobus Miller.
The application sought an order directing the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to declare the parliamentary candidate list – submitted by CDV’s leader Gotthardt Kandume for the National Assembly elections – null and void, as he allegedly had no authority to do so.
The claim arising from the party’s internal strife urged the ECN to accept a different list from that submitted by Kandume.
Upon hearing the case, Miller noted that most of the 37 respondents in the application, those listed by Kandume, were not formally served, and had no knowledge of the case.
Miller ruled that it is fundamental that if relief is being sought against a particular person, that person should be served prior to the matter being called before court.
He further noted that the matter pertaining to the case, as it relates to the party list for the upcoming elections, is clearly an electoral issue.
He said in terms of the provisions of Section 168(1)(e) of the Electoral Act, the jurisdiction in the matter rests in the Electoral Court, and not the High Court.
He ordered the matter to be final, and be struck from the roll.
In case documents, the CDV declared it notified the electoral body on 15 October that they were changing their authorised representative from Kandume to Hans Stramiss and the ECN refused to recognise this change.
Thus, the Stramiss faction urged the court to review and overturn the electoral commission’s decision to ignore the change in representation.
They argued that under section 138(1) of the Electoral Act 5 of 2014, the change from Kandume to Stramiss was indeed valid, hoping that if the court agrees that Stramiss is the rightful representative, the court must summon the prior members listed in Kandume’s list to justify themselves in court as to why they aligned themselves to Kandume and his decision.
Overall, some party members were seeking the court’s permission for an urgent review to ensure that Stramiss, not Kandume, is recognised as their official representative, and
the party list he submitted is accepted for electoral purposes.
Moses Ikanga represented the aggrieved party members, while Cynthia Endjambi and Kadhila Amoomo represented the ECN and Gotthardt Kandume, respectively.