Opposition parties are not happy with the increased registration fee required to field a candidate in each constituency that was increased to N$2 500, meaning parties should fork out N$302 500 to field candidates in all 121 constituencies during the upcoming regional council elections.
According to the Electoral Act No. 5 of 2014, a political party or candidate must pay N$2 500 to contest in a constituency.
In the 2010 regional council elections, the cost per constituency was N$100, meaning the fee was pushed up by a whopping N$2 400. Political gurus have said the cost of contesting in all constituencies will force most parties to only focus on their strongholds while others warned that parties’ contesting in only a few constituencies would exacerbate voter apathy, as voters might opt to stay home if their party of choice fails to field a candidate in a particular constituency.
All People’s Party (APP) president Ignatius Shixwameni feels ECN should revise the fee because “there is no justification for it to be so high”.
“We are making elections expensive and by doing so we are excluding the poor from participating in elections. By implementing this fee we have it completely wrong because you expect any person to participate in these elections,” he said.
Shixwameni claimed the increased fee is “dictatorship” at the grassroots level.
“Elections should be an open field, and in this case it is even more crucial because this is the level where decisions pertaining to the grassroots are made, this is the only opportunity our people really have to participate in elections,” he said.
Shixwameni also warned that the situation might promote voter apathy.
“Since most parties will not be able to field candidates in all constituencies some people might feel that it is pointless to vote since their party is not contesting their constituency,” warned the seasoned parliamentarian.
DTA of Namibia president McHenry Venaani said the escalation “defies logic”.
Despite that, Venaani said his party is looking to contest for all constituencies.
“We are the second largest party in the country, we will consider all constituencies or at least 90 percent of them,” said Venaani.
Venaani also opposed the new registration fee in the National Assembly last week.
Parties with one seat in parliament will be the hardest hit by the increased registration fees, seeing that they only received N$958 000 from the public purse, these include parties such as Swanu, United People’s Movement (UPM) and the Republican Party (RP).
“For a party getting N$958 000 through State funding to contest in all constituencies they will have to spend almost 40 percent of the budget,” Venaani said.
He said there is a need to reconsider the registration fee in the future because “the purpose of our democracy is not to limit people to participate in democracy but to allow more people and parties to participate”.
Swanu president Usutuaije Maamberua is of the view that the monetary requirements to contest in the regional elections were set without proper reflection.
“That is the dictatorship of the majority. The Electoral Bill was forced through even though we opposed it. But what can we do, that is what happens when the majority assumes dictatorial tendencies,” said the outspoken Maamberua.
UPM president Jan van Wyk yesterday said the increased fee disadvantaged smaller parties and independent candidates who do not have financial support.
“It is going to be difficult to field candidates in all constituencies, but we have to see how we will work around that because we also have to promote the party,” said Van Wyk.
RP vice president Clara Gowases also bemoaned the amended fee, saying smaller parties will not be able to field candidates in all constituencies.
“It will be difficult for those parties that are not in parliament since they do not receive State funding. Even those of us who are in parliament will suffer because you need money to campaign, pay your election agents and at the same time pay to field candidates,” lamented Gowases.
She also called for a law that will compel parties to submit party lists for the regional council elections to do away with the by-elections concept.
“The by-elections are very costly…we need to do away with them by compelling parties to submit party lists as in the case of the National Assembly elections,” she proposed.
Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) spokesman Jeremiah Nambinga when contacted for comment on the issue said “it [registration fee] is too much”.
“But if that is what the law requires then there is nothing one can do but to comply. We are yet to decide whether to field candidates in all constituencies,” he said.
Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN)’s Director for Elections Dr Paul Isaaks yesterday told New Era that there is nothing the electoral body can do to change the prescribed fee and that parties should discuss it in parliament if they wish to have that specific section amended.
“As ECN we get our mandate from parliament, they [parliamentarians] are the law givers therefore they should formulate the law. I understand their concern but there is nothing we can do,” he said.
Isaaks gave no explanation as to why the fee ballooned by such a huge margin.
Government has allocated over N$278 million to ECN for the current financial year. A huge chunk of that money is most likely to cater for the upcoming by-elections in Swakopmund, Otjiwarongo and Onyaanya constituencies as well as the regional elections at the end of the year.