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Home / APP refuses to accept results for Rundu Rural
APP refuses to accept results for Rundu Rural
2015-11-30Staff Report 2 Rundu The All Peoples Party (APP) has refused to accept the results for Rundu Rural Constituency, saying the preliminary results do not tally with the interim figures from individual polling stations that showed that their candidate, Marcelius Haivera, was leading at polling stations. According to the preliminary results for Rundu Rural Constituency Swapo Party candidate Michael Shikongo won the constituency with 1 284 votes, while APP candidate Haivera only got 887 votes, a figure the APP is now disputing. The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) says it is merely “a misunderstanding”, as the returning officer failed to announce the preliminary results at the verification centre in the constituency before the final announcement was made by the ECN. “APP won. I ‘m saying this, because until five in the morning I came from all the polling stations to collect the outcomes and it was clear that APP won,” said Vincent Kanyetu of the APP. Kavango East ECN coordinator Protasius Ihemba said: “There was a misunderstanding. The returning officer did not make preliminary announcements at the verification centre, so I told him that I would send the returning officer back to the Rundu Rural Constituency verification centre to go and make the announcement.” Ihemba told New Era that if the party felt the outcome was not factual, they can go through the results of the different polling stations together. However, the APP says it does not understand how the returning officer can fail to announce the preliminary results at the verification centre in front of party officials and only do it the following day - after he has sent the results to Windhoek. “[The returning officer] first went to send the results and now he wants to come do verification. How do you verify after you have given the results? What is that?” asked Haivera Marcelius, the APP candidate who feels he won but suspects the ECN possibly changed the results. “While we still have all the materials here and the presiding officers are also here, it’s good that they can come and go through the results of the different polling stations in the constituency,” Ihemba responded. Preliminary results for regional council elections in Kavango East show that in Ndiyona Constituency Swapo candidate E. Likuwa got 1 859 votes, while APP candidate F Haingura only got 293. In Mashare, Swapo candidate P. Mavara got 2 702 votes, while APP candidate P. Kaburu got 1 487 and DTA candidate N. Shikongo got 110 votes only. In Rundu Urban Constituency, Swapo candidate Victoria Kauma got 7 738 votes, followed by APP candidate L. Shindimba, who managed to get 1 202 votes. DTA candidate C. Muyenga got 455, while F. Simon of the RDP got the least votes: 342. In Mukwe Constituency, Swapo candidate J. Thighuru got the most votes (5 541), followed by APP candidate V. Kambowo, with 484, while the DTA’s T. Bernhard garnered only 442 votes. The preliminary local authority election results for Divundu show that Swapo won six seats, after getting 631 votes. The APP got one seat with 68 votes, but the DTA did not get a single seat, as they only secured 46 votes. The preliminary results for Ndonga Linena Constituemcy have not yet been disclosed, neither have the local authority election results for Rundu. 2015-11-30Staff Report 2
