AR applies to become a political party

The Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement has submitted an application with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to officially be registered as a political party, Namibian Sun has learnt.This was confirmed yesterday by ECN’s acting chief electoral officer, advocate Heidi Jacobs.“We received such an application last week and we are looking at it,” she confirmed.The plan to transform into a political movement comes almost a decade after the pressure group was formed, a period which saw AR leaders stating on several occasions that there are no plans to register as a political party.If given the nod by the electoral body, AR will be able to contest in next year’s general elections as well as field a candidate for the presidential elections.One of AR&#039;s founders, Job Amupanda, has already publicly announced his plans to run for president next year by making several pronouncements and anointing himself as the ‘incoming president’.Empty promisesWhen contacted yesterday, AR spokesperson George Kambala said he could not comment on the matter.There are currently 22 registered political parties in Namibia.On AR’s political ambitions, Fredrico Links - a research associate at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) - said the move comes as no surprise.He was quick to add that AR has yet to deliver on its promises regarding land and housing.“They haven’t delivered on their promises. AR started with good intentions and looked like it was going to be a force to be reckoned with in our politics, but this did not translate. “What we have seen is that he [Amupanda] created a personal profile for himself, but the movement did not. But let’s wait and see what happens in the next 14 months,” he said.Links added that the movement’s failure to deliver on its land promises could be a contributing factor to its poor performance during the local authority polls in 2020, when it contested for seats on the City of Windhoek council. AR only got two of the 15 seats.“It [registering as a political party] has been obvious since Amupanda has been promoting himself as president. It was sort of expected. There was no way he was going to run for president without his party running for seats in the National Assembly.”Writing’s on the wallPolitical commentator Ndumba Kamwanyah said “the writing has been on the wall and the move does not come as a surprise”.“I am not surprised that eventually they opted to register themselves as a political party. In one way or another, there was that ambition that the movement would transform itself into a political party. “We have seen them testing the ground through the local government elections - although they did not do as well as people expected,” he said.“We also saw how Job Amupanda declared that he is the incoming president of the country, so I think this changes the political dynamics in the country. It infuses competitiveness in our political processes. “It will not be a normal election. Remember, now you have [Landless People’s Movement], [Independent Patriots for Change] and now you have AR as a political party [as well],” Kamwanyah added.“They are going to do well in the fight against corruption. We have seen how Amupanda has been involved in exposing a lot of dubious dealings on the ground. There is that public trust in him. What it means [is that] all the exposure will be attributed to AR and he will probably be their presidential candidate at next year’s election.”kenya@namibiansun.com

AR applies to become a political party

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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AR applies to become a political party

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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