ONGWEDIVA – Two members of the same family – albeit from different political backgrounds – will go head-to-head later this month in the by-election for a regional councillor position in the Oshikoto region. The Landless People’s Movement’s (LPM) Fransiskus Khumub and his older cousin, Swapo Party’s Moses Khumub, are the only two candidates to contest the Oshikoto region’s Guinas constituency by-election on 17 January.

Although the two are distant cousins, such a contest will be a first for the country at the regional council election level.

Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) spokesperson De Wet Siluka confirmed to New Era that only the two political parties have submitted candidates to contest in the upcoming by-election.

Last year, he said ECN had requested various political parties to submit their candidates to participate in the by-election at the Guinas constituency.

However, only Swapo and LPM managed to do so.

This is the first time that LPM is contesting for regional councillor in the Guinas constituency.

Independent Patriots for Change northern spokesperson Eino Heelu said the party is not participating in the by-election because they still have a case pending at the court regarding the just-ended elections’ results.

The Guinas constituency by-election is necessitated by the death of former Guinas constituency councillor Elias Barney Martinus (51), who died last year.

He has been a councillor since 2020.

People from the Guinas constituency who spoke to this publication stressed that their next councillor should be someone who cares for the constituency’s inhabitants.

Guinas is a small constituency, with 4 337 eligible registered voters and five fixed polling stations.

– fhamalwa@nepc.com.na