It's total garbage - Swapo

Swapo executive director Austin Samupwa has rubbished an opinion piece written by party member Dr Panduleni Itula, which says Namibia is ripe for an independent presidential candidate to challenge President Hage Geingob and other party leaders at the polls this year. Samupwa referred to Itula's opinion as “total garbage”, saying the party had nothing to do with it and would not waste time discussing it. “We don't sit and discuss non-issues that are not an issue when it comes to Swapo. Just ask him what he wants to do; we have nothing to do with that letter. It's total garbage,” Samupwa said. Itula would neither confirm nor deny this week that he was thinking of standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election. “Well, there is nothing to be said. I have said what I needed to say in that opinion; that's basically it. It's up to the people to look at it. I have got nothing to add to that,” Itula told Namibian Sun. In his 19-page document Itula explained how it was legally possible for an independent candidate to run for president. Section 72 of the Electoral Act states the requirements for being nominated as a candidate for presidential elections. Firstly, the Act states that one qualifies based on section 3 of article 38 of the Namibian Constitution, which states that every citizen of Namibia by birth or descent, over the age of 35 and who is eligible to be elected to office as a member of the National Assembly, is eligible for election as president. Secondly, he or she should be a registered voter and thirdly the nominee should either be a representative of a registered political party or an independent candidate whose nomination is supported by at least 500 registered voters per region. This means that an independent candidate should obtain a total of 7 000 nominations from registered voters. According to Itula's document, elections do not necessarily produce the best choices for democratic leadership, and party politics is not the only avenue to achieve good democratic rule. “Under the Namibian constitutional dispensation, time may be mature for such a shake-up situation to occur as well. Particularly in the light of unpleasant tendencies we [have] witnessed in local governments and the ruling party. This may indeed be made possible on fertile grounds of dictatorial tendencies surfacing in relation to a catalogue of unilateral decisions since 2015 and dictatorial directives (sic),” Itula argued. “The events in the ruling party in the last few years, months and weeks certainly gave Namibians a reason to ponder as to whether an independent president is worth making a cross on the ballot paper for. If any, the time is indeed ripe for such a bold but courageous move with all its inherent risks.” Test Political commentator Frederico Links said the idea of an independent presidential candidate should be tested and it would be interesting to see how people responded. “People might actually respond to something like that because we haven't pushed the limits in terms of what is possible in our electoral framework. It is surprising how nobody has ever done this,” Links said. He said a possible strategy for an independent candidate would be to focus on addressing corruption. Professor Nico Horn said Swapo had been dominating the polls since independence and it would be hard for an independent candidate to make an impact at this stage. “The idea is fine but our democracy has developed in a very different way. You still sit with a ruling party that at the last election got 80% of the votes. Well, everything started somewhere. It would be a real challenge for the outsider,” Horn said. Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) executive director Graham Hopwood argued that the process of forming a political party was much easier than being nominated as an independent candidate. “The only aspect I would emphasise is that it is quite difficult to be nominated as an independent candidate according to our electoral law. “Such a candidate would need to be nominated by 500 registered voters in each region, 7 000 people overall. This would mean that any prospective independent candidate would have to be very serious in their approach and start building support well ahead of the election. “In contrast, it is easier to register a political party, which only needs to have the backing of 3 500 voters spread evenly across seven regions,” Hopwood said. Consequences Itula also argued in his document that a political party cannot use its constitution to expel a member who chooses to run as an independent candidate. Itula said citizens should exercise their rights as stipulated in the constitution.KENYA KAMBOWE

It's total garbage - Swapo

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-30

Please login to leave a comment

It's total garbage - Swapo

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-04-30

Please login to leave a comment

Login