Election case to Supreme Court

By: BRIGITTE WEIDLICH

LAWYERS for the opposition parties that challenged the 2009 elections, and lost the case in the High Court last week, submitted an urgent application to the Supreme Court yesterday, asking for the opportunity to appeal against the ruling by Judge President Petrus Damaseb, who dismissed the case on technical grounds.

“We have duly filed the papers at the Supreme Court today [yesterday],” said lawyer Tobie Louw of Theunissen,
Louw and Partners confirmed to The Namibian yesterday.
Damaseb and Judge Collins Parker had struck the case from the roll with costs because the lawyers had filed the application 90 minutes later than the official deadline on January 4.
“The appeal will centre on the belief of the opposition parties that the merit of the case... is more important than a technicality like the 90 minutes the papers were filed late,” Henk Mudge, President of RP told The Namibian yesterday.
The Supreme Court judges will have to decide whether to grant the parties leave to appeal or dismiss the application. No date for that has been set yet.