Civil society presses for changes to election law

CIVIL society organisations want a more active role in the upcoming national elections through public awareness campaigns and lobbying for urgent amendments to the existing election law.

Presenting the results of a recent two-day workshop with local and South African experts, the Non-governmental Trust Election Coalition (NTEC) said at the end of last week that more transparency and checks and balances need to accompany the electoral process in Namibia.Government recently made several amendments to the existing Electoral Act, but substantial input given by civil society for several changes in 2007 already were not taken into consideration, while surprising new elements were added, the workshop participants found out. ‘A totally new element is that a presidential candidate should be declared elected if no other contestant is in the presidential election race,’ the NTEC’s Carola Engelbrecht told reporters on Thursday.’A presidential candidate should have proven widespread national support. It is questionable if such support could be secured without election. It is not clear why such an amendment was proposed, while other changes which would align the Act closer to African benchmarks are not considered.’The workshop recommended that Government should ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.’We will investigate the merits of establishing a temporary Electoral Court or Tribunal, which could operate four months prior to and two months after elections. This could ensure prompt hearings, judgements and sentencing with regard to offences, political violence, irregularities or fraud,’ Engelbrecht added.It was strongly felt that offences by election commissioners, such as collusion with political parties, should be added to the list of offences in the Election Act.The Code of Conduct for political parties should become legally enforceable.Appropriate and effective punitive measures to such offences need to be incorporated in the law.Acts of political violence and intolerance should be included in the Act as offences.The workshop called on NTEC to lobby for the alignment of Namibia’s existing Electoral Act to regional and continental benchmarks. Ballots should be counted at polling stations on the same day instead of transporting ballot boxes to election centres for counting there.Plans are to set up a civil society liaison committee for better transparency and for access to and timely distribution of information about election processes, Engelbrecht stated.The NTEC will further compile guidelines for local election observers and monitors.The independence, or lack thereof, of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) also came under the spotlight. ‘We distinguish between structural and functioning independence of such a body,’ Engelbrecht said. Another sticky issue for the NTEC is the efficiency of election officials and the perceived impartiality of the ECN.The role of the Regional Councils and Regional Councillors in the recruitment of election officials and voter education, and the frequent use of constituency offices by the ECN ‘can be perceived as compromising the independence of the ECN, especially in an environment where the distinction between State, Government and ruling party is often not well understood or deliberately blurred,’ Engelbrecht said.The recruitment of unemployed, mostly very young and often undereducated people as temporary election officials was justified from a social policy point of view, the workshop found. At the same time it was also problematic as it potentially undermined the efficiency and credibility of the electoral process. These officials should receive much more training and written examinations should be considered. ‘Even more important is to retain a core of experienced election officials like returning and presiding officers,’ the NTEC said.Amendments to the existing election law should have been tabled in Parliament last year already, but the draft is still with the Ministry of Local and Regional Government.brigitte@namibian.com.na