EDITORIAL: ECN, we’re watching you!

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) needs to bring its A-game to tomorrow’s election. Anything resembling the wobbly manner in which it has handled electoral matters in recent months, including running out of ballot papers in the recent special voting, would be calamitous.The fact that the tender to supply private cars to ECN was still running a week before the main election tomorrow reeks of an electoral body in disarray.To make matters worse, ballot papers had to be printed through direct procurement, allegedly because of time constraints. They had five years to prepare for this election. Five!Many other behaviours of the ECN – including meeting with Swapo leaders at State House in the absence of other political parties and deregistering opposition parties against the advice of government attorneys – have eroded what little remained of the commission&#039;s credibility.Tomorrow’s election is thus an opportunity for ECN to self-correct. We need an election that is both credible and smooth in its processes.Credibility in particular is non-negotiable. After the 2019 election, ECN was dragged to court and in fact lost the case in which it was sued for using electronic voting machines without a paper trail.Strangely, the court upheld the outcome that no one could verify, instead ordering ECN to discontinue the use of those machines. To date, no one can technically verify who won that election. This time we need a radical departure from the shameful events of five years ago. We need an election that enjoys the trust of all its stakeholders – including its losers.We can no longer watch on as the will of the people is toyed with by questionable officials.

EDITORIAL: ECN, we’re watching you!

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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EDITORIAL: ECN, we’re watching you!

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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