Nahas says ECN has tainted Swapo’s looming victory
Former PM questions president’s selective voting extension
The former prime minister, who almost missed out on voting amid the chaos of election day, described this year's election as the worst in the country's history.
Swapo stalwart and former prime minister Nahas Angula says last week’s general election was the worst in Namibia’s post-independence history, adding that the looming victory by the ruling party will be severely tainted by the behaviour of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) as questions about the fairness and legitimacy of the election continue to intensify.
Angula (81) said the elections were so disorganised that he almost missed his chance to vote, even though the elderly were granted preferential treatment at polling stations.
“I told those in the queue that I’m an old man in my eighties, hoping that they would allow me not to queue, but the youth – who were frustrated by the slow-moving, long queues – wouldn’t budge," he said.
"I can understand their resistance. In the end, I pleaded my case and I was allowed to vote at 16:00 at the Centaurus polling station,” he told Namibian Sun Monday.
“It was a generational conflict between the elders and the youth. In the future, ECN must consider having a separate day for the elders,” Angula, also a former education and defence minister, suggested.
Stained victory
The chaos and disorganisation, Angula said, have significantly influenced the results, and Swapo, which is emerging as the winner, cannot be proud of its victory under the circumstances.
“It is difficult for Swapo to be proud of a victory from an election like this, which is unfair on the party because this is ECN’s doing,” he said.
Opposition parties, led by the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), are planning to approach the courts – citing several issues that affected the voting process, including allowing some parts of the country to continue voting beyond the November 27 election day while other parts of the country were denied the same right.
The lack of ballot papers at many polling stations, as well as technical glitches on ECN’s side, further prevented many people from voting.
It is not clear what criteria ECN used to identify regions in which voting could continue last week Friday and Saturday at the expense of other regions.
On Saturday, Swapo – using its transport company Namib Contract Haulage – bused its supporters from Rundu in the Kavango East Region to vote at Evululuko in Oshakati. Extended voting was only allowed in selected areas of the Oshikoto, Oshana, Khomas and Kunene regions.
“This was a disservice to the people of Namibia. This is not good for Namibia. How do we recover from this? Swapo’s victory will have a stain on it," Angula warned.
'Panicked' decision
Angula questioned President Nangolo Mbumba’s decision to grant extended voting solely to selected parts of the country.
“Who advised the president to grant such discriminatory extended voting? How these areas were selected is anyone’s guess. The postponement was done in panic and it was not thought through.”
He continued: “Swapo has the means to transport voters across the country, but what about people like Job Amupanda [of the Affirmative Repositioning movement]? Maybe he too had a few voters in Kavango, but does he have the means to transport them to Oshakati like Swapo did? That’s where unfairness comes in.”
ECN at fault
After the 2019 election, in which electronic voting machines without a paper trail were used, a court challenge by then-independent candidate Dr Panduleni Itula resulted in an order barring further use of those machines.
“After that court judgment, ECN should have moved swiftly by simply asking the manufacturer to install the paper trail function. That way, voting would have been very smooth this year," Angula pointed out.
“I don’t know whether to call what happened sabotage, incompetence – or both. All these problems were created by the administrators at ECN. Election results are not only influenced through old rigging practices such as ballot stuffing. Administrators can also influence electoral outcomes when their behaviour discriminates against other participants," Angula stressed.
ECN casts dark shadow
Walvis Bay-based lawyer Richard Metcalfe agreed that the ECN has denied Swapo an opportunity for an unquestionable victory.
“If polling stations had been opened in the whole country on 29 and 30 November 2024, the elections could have been declared free and fair. Instead we were given selective democracy by the ECN,” he said yesterday.
“This selective right to vote reeks of incompetence and decadence. It also enables the poor political performers and losers in the national election to grasp in desperation for a second pathetic bite of the apple where it appears that in any free and fair election such political reprobates would have been fairly and squarely consigned to the scrap heap of prodigious political pretension for another five years," he explained.
“The ECN has effectively robbed Swapo of claiming it won the elections freely and fairly. The ECN has cast a deep shadow on national elections. It is clearly not able to perform its work competently, no matter what spin it tries to place on its ineptitude,” the veteran legal practitioner remarked.
#NamibiaDecides2024
Angula (81) said the elections were so disorganised that he almost missed his chance to vote, even though the elderly were granted preferential treatment at polling stations.
“I told those in the queue that I’m an old man in my eighties, hoping that they would allow me not to queue, but the youth – who were frustrated by the slow-moving, long queues – wouldn’t budge," he said.
"I can understand their resistance. In the end, I pleaded my case and I was allowed to vote at 16:00 at the Centaurus polling station,” he told Namibian Sun Monday.
“It was a generational conflict between the elders and the youth. In the future, ECN must consider having a separate day for the elders,” Angula, also a former education and defence minister, suggested.
Stained victory
The chaos and disorganisation, Angula said, have significantly influenced the results, and Swapo, which is emerging as the winner, cannot be proud of its victory under the circumstances.
“It is difficult for Swapo to be proud of a victory from an election like this, which is unfair on the party because this is ECN’s doing,” he said.
Opposition parties, led by the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), are planning to approach the courts – citing several issues that affected the voting process, including allowing some parts of the country to continue voting beyond the November 27 election day while other parts of the country were denied the same right.
The lack of ballot papers at many polling stations, as well as technical glitches on ECN’s side, further prevented many people from voting.
It is not clear what criteria ECN used to identify regions in which voting could continue last week Friday and Saturday at the expense of other regions.
On Saturday, Swapo – using its transport company Namib Contract Haulage – bused its supporters from Rundu in the Kavango East Region to vote at Evululuko in Oshakati. Extended voting was only allowed in selected areas of the Oshikoto, Oshana, Khomas and Kunene regions.
“This was a disservice to the people of Namibia. This is not good for Namibia. How do we recover from this? Swapo’s victory will have a stain on it," Angula warned.
'Panicked' decision
Angula questioned President Nangolo Mbumba’s decision to grant extended voting solely to selected parts of the country.
“Who advised the president to grant such discriminatory extended voting? How these areas were selected is anyone’s guess. The postponement was done in panic and it was not thought through.”
He continued: “Swapo has the means to transport voters across the country, but what about people like Job Amupanda [of the Affirmative Repositioning movement]? Maybe he too had a few voters in Kavango, but does he have the means to transport them to Oshakati like Swapo did? That’s where unfairness comes in.”
ECN at fault
After the 2019 election, in which electronic voting machines without a paper trail were used, a court challenge by then-independent candidate Dr Panduleni Itula resulted in an order barring further use of those machines.
“After that court judgment, ECN should have moved swiftly by simply asking the manufacturer to install the paper trail function. That way, voting would have been very smooth this year," Angula pointed out.
“I don’t know whether to call what happened sabotage, incompetence – or both. All these problems were created by the administrators at ECN. Election results are not only influenced through old rigging practices such as ballot stuffing. Administrators can also influence electoral outcomes when their behaviour discriminates against other participants," Angula stressed.
ECN casts dark shadow
Walvis Bay-based lawyer Richard Metcalfe agreed that the ECN has denied Swapo an opportunity for an unquestionable victory.
“If polling stations had been opened in the whole country on 29 and 30 November 2024, the elections could have been declared free and fair. Instead we were given selective democracy by the ECN,” he said yesterday.
“This selective right to vote reeks of incompetence and decadence. It also enables the poor political performers and losers in the national election to grasp in desperation for a second pathetic bite of the apple where it appears that in any free and fair election such political reprobates would have been fairly and squarely consigned to the scrap heap of prodigious political pretension for another five years," he explained.
“The ECN has effectively robbed Swapo of claiming it won the elections freely and fairly. The ECN has cast a deep shadow on national elections. It is clearly not able to perform its work competently, no matter what spin it tries to place on its ineptitude,” the veteran legal practitioner remarked.
#NamibiaDecides2024
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