Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

World

World, Maverick News

Legal storm brews in Namibia as election results come under scrutiny

Legal storm brews in Namibia as election results come under scrutiny
People wait in line to vote during the elections. (Photo: Dario Mitidieri / Getty Images)
Ernst Calitz
By Ernst Calitz
14 Jan 2025
Facebook
1
Namibia’s new official opposition party the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), with the support of other parties, is taking the country’s electoral commission to court on Wednesday, 15 January 2025, challenging the results of the country’s controversial elections.

The IPC vowed to take the electoral commission to court over the controversial election and has followed through on its promise. IPC spokesperson Christine Esperanza Aochamus confirmed this, stating that despite the party’s strong performance at the polls, the legal challenges would proceed. 

The electoral commission was ordered by Namibian courts on the 13 December 2024 to allow political parties to inspect the election material, including the IPC and Landless People’s Movement (LPM), which both announced that they would challenge the elections after they concluded. 

The electoral commission agreed, and allowed the parties to inspect the materials between 18 and 19 December, in the presence of Namibian police and election officials. 

The election material indicated the total number of votes that were cast, rejected votes, spoilt ballots, the total number of votes counted at each polling station, and the total number of voters who cast their ballots outside of the constituencies where they registered.

While answering questions from the media on the electoral commission’s response to the legal challenges, the commission’s chairperson, Elsie Nghikembua, said that the commission would “deal with it as and when it comes”.

Election challenge


On 23 December 2024, the IPC submitted two court applications in which the party asked that the results of the country’s national and presidential elections be declared invalid.

(Image: Facebook)



The first of the cases is asking the Supreme Court to set aside the presidential election, where the South West African People’s Organisation’s (Swapo’s) candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah won, and to also order that a new presidential election be held. The second case is asking Namibia’s Electoral Court to set aside the results of the national assembly election, where Swapo also emerged victorious. 

Additionally, the party is asking the courts to declare that the proclamation that extended the country’s election by two days in only some regions contravened Namibia’s constitution and parts of the country’s Electoral Act. According to IPC president Panduleni Itula, no one had the power to extend the voting time.

Read more: Extension for Namibia’s election in a ‘very mischievous interpretation of the act’

Moreover, Itula also went on to allege that the extension of the voting days did not facilitate broad public participation in the elections.

In a sworn statement filed at Namibia’s supreme court, Itula alleges that: “The return and outcome of the impugned election are replete with grave illegalities of the worst kind, and in fact amounted to a disenfranchisement of eligible voters.”

Itula also further alleges that people who were not entitled to vote were allowed to cast their ballots in the presidential election.

The IPC’s case also argues that the technical errors that plagued Namibia’s presidential and national assembly elections on 27 November resulted in voter suppression, as many voters were unable to cast their votes due to the malfunctions. 

In his affidavit, Itula alleges that: “What happened on 27 November 2024 between the hours 07h00 and 21h00 was a suppression of the voting public’s right to vote in a manner that is free, fair, credible and in compliance with the law.”

Read more: Namibia’s election chaos: Technical failures and ballot shortages spark outrage among voters and parties

The IPC is citing Namibia’s president, the electoral commission, the attorney-general, the presidential candidates from the various parties that partook in the presidential election, and all the parties that partook in the national assembly elections in the two cases. The respondents had five days after the court documents were served to notify the courts on whether they would be opposing the IPC’s applications. 

Daily Maverick reached out to the electoral commission for comment, but by the time of publication we had received no response.

Electoral commission responds to IPC


In an answering affidavit submitted on 7 January 2025, Namibia’s electoral commission chairperson, Elsie Nghikembua, said that the IPC’s case was “entirely  unsupported by any evidence” and failed to meet the legal requirements to challenge the election. 

Nghikembua stating that: “The commission respectfully submits that this application is vexatious and frivolous, and is an abuse of court process…”

The electoral commission also went on to argue that if the courts found any merit in the IPC’s case, only the results from the extended election on 29 and 30 February should be invalidated, but the results from the initial 27 November election remained valid.

If this is the case, Namibia’s ruling Swapo party would gain one additional seat in the country’s national assembly, at the expense of the IPC.

People wait in line to vote during the elections. (Photo: Dario Mitidieri / Getty Images)


Historic election


Namibia’s presidential and national assembly elections last year were a first in many ways for the country.

Namibians’ elected their first woman president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the candidate for the governing Swapo. She managed to grab the presidential seat with 57.69% of the vote — securing a marginally larger support base than the party’s previous candidate in 2019, Hage Geingob, who secured 56.25% of the vote.

Read more: Namibia has its first woman president. Namibians say it won’t mean much for women

This election also saw the new kid on the block, the IPC, securing a hefty chunk of the opposition’s seats in the national assembly, with 20.2% of the vote. This is the first time in Namibia’s history that a newly registered political party took such a large portion of seats in the national assembly. The governing Swapo party endured its worst year at the polls with only 53.37% of the vote. 

But by far the most significant factor is that the elections were marred with ballot paper shortages and accusations of election rigging well before Namibians even headed to the polls. DM

Categories:

Tags: