Rudolf Gaiseb
The Electoral Court ruled on Friday that the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) must provide the Landless People’s Movement and Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) the information they seek.
The LPM and the IPC want access to voting materials including the total votes cast, the total votes rejected, spoiled ballots, the total number of votes counted at each polling station and the number of voters who voted outside their registered constituencies.
The political parties were given two days – 18 and 19 December 2024 – to inspect the election material.
IPC spokesperson Imms Nashinge expressed happiness over the victory, but said his party has more cards to play in pursuit of contesting the outcome of the 2024 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“We are specific. What we need we will be able to get in those two days, which are more than enough for us,” he added.
Meanwhile, LPM representative, Ivan Skrywer said the two days given by the court are not enough for a thorough inspection.
“We know that there is a large sector of society that is unhappy with the results. If it was up to us, we would have selected 15 to 25 people per political party to inspect the information,” he said.
The party is also calling on all ECN commissioners to resign.
“They must resign; we have lost confidence in them. They have messed up in this election. They must resign, or the new parliament must convene and fire them. We have no confidence in them regarding the genuineness of the elections, or those of the local authorities next year.
Why have they not come out to apologise if it is merely a perception, why are they opting to conduct a post-mortem investigation? They are arrogant,” he said.
The applicants, aggrieved by the 2024 national elections’ outcomes took ECN to the electoral court to get access to and inspect election materials.
The parties agreed they should be granted access to inspect the election information and results, and that nothing contained in the sealed packet(s) contemplated in the Act would be opened.
Deputy Judge President Nate Ndauendapo, judges Orben Sibeya and Beatrix de Jager presided over the two applications.
In the final order, the court ruled: “ECN must produce to the applicant the information pertaining to the 2024 National Assembly election of 27 November 2024 (including those who voted in terms of section 93(3) of the Electoral Act 5 of 2014, even if they voted after 24h00 on 27 November 2024).
The court ruled on Friday that the parties be provided with, the total number of votes cast, votes rejected; spoilt ballots; the total number of voters who voted outside their constituencies (tendered votes); and the total number of votes counted, all from the voting day to the following two days to which the voting was extended. -rrgaiseb@gmail.com