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Electoral Commission digs in over ballot papers
THE Electoral Commission of Namibia and nine political parties that want to be given access to a range of election material used in November’s National Assembly and presidential polls are set to square off in the High Court in Windhoek today.
The ECN agreed by yesterday to give nine political parties that emerged as the losers access to some of the election material the parties want to inspect. A second batch of material, including the actual ballot papers on which Namibia’s voters made their crosses in the elections, is set to be the subject of arguments in the High Court today.
In a case filed with the High Court last Wednesday, the Rally for Democracy and Progress, DTA, UDF, Nudo, Congress of Democrats, All Peoples’ Party, Republican Party, NDMC, and Democratic Party of Namibia – and their candidates in the presidential election – want the court to order the ECN to give them access to and allow them to make copies of two lists of material used in the election and counting process after the polls.
The ECN yesterday met with the parties to inform them that material on one of the lists would be made available to them. This includes copies of the counts prepared and announced by the presiding officer of each polling station, the reports that the returning officer in each constituency made to the Director of Elections to set out the results of the verification of the counting of votes in each constituency, the announcement of the National Assembly and presidential election results in each constituency, and the announcement of the final results of the elections that was made by the Chairman of the ECN.
This material alone already consists of over 30 000 pages of documents, sources indicated yesterday.
The second list of material that the parties want access to, and which the ECN has so far refused to provide to the parties, includes all ballot papers counted after the election, all unused ballot papers, all rejected and spoilt ballot papers, the counterfoils of all ballot papers used, the stamps used at polling stations to put a mark on the back of ballot papers, and all ballot paper accounts the ECN received from returning officers at constituencies.
Deputy Government Attorney Nixon Marcus, who is representing the ECN, indicated yesterday that the ECN is opposing the parties’ court application with regard to them being given access to this material as well. This issue is set to be the subject of arguments that are scheduled to be heard in the High Court from 12h00 today.
According to the Electoral Act, the material still at issue in the parties’ court application can be unsealed and opened for inspection after a court has given an order to that effect.
The Electoral Act’s section 93 states that returning officers must compile all counted ballot papers, all rejected ballot papers, and all ballot paper returns into packets which must then be sealed and delivered to the Director of Elections.
The Act also states that no one may open or inspect the contents of these sealed packets except by court order.
Such an order may be granted by the High Court when it is satisfied by evidence given on oath that the opening of the packets is required for the purposes of an election application or to institute or maintain a prosecution for an offence related to the election in question, the law states.
In an affidavit filed with the High Court, the chief administrator of the RDP, Libolly Haufiku, stated that the nine parties need the documentation they are asking for “to assess their position in respect of the election and to determine whether or not to initiate an election application” in the High Court.
The parties need access to the election material to establish if there were any systemic irregularities, which would bear out the allegations of irregularities that had come to their knowledge, Haufiku stated.
In terms of the Electoral Act, a petition to challenge an election has to be filed with the High Court within 30 days after the result is announced. With more than half of this 30-day period having passed, the parties still have up to January 2 to file an election petition if they choose to do so. The law also states that no election will be set aside unless irregularities had been found that were of such a nature that they could affect the result of the election.
According to the official National Assembly election result, Swapo received 602 580 votes, or 75,27 percent, of the 800 567 valid votes cast in the National Assembly election. That won the ruling party 54 seats in the NA.
The RDP emerged as the second most popular party among voters, receiving 90 556 votes, or 11,31 per cent of the total, which gives the party eight seats in the NA.
The DTA, UDF and Nudo each won two seats, while the APP, CoD, RP and Swanu won one seat each.
