THE Communist Party is boycotting next month’s local and regional elections, claiming that they will not be free and fair.
In a letter to the Electoral Commission of Namibia yesterday, Harry Boesak, general secretary of the Communist Party (CP), claimed the ECN had failed to take proper charge of elections through proper training of staff and this led to several costly court cases.
Boesak said ECN Director Moses Ndjakarana should have stepped aside until after the current court case, in which some opposition parties challenged the November 2009 general elections, was finalised but instead opted to stay on and organise another election.’It is clear from media reports that all irregularities and problems that existed before last year’s elections, for example the voters’ roll, have still not been solved. It would seem that there will be another court case after this year’s election. Is it not your [Ndjarakana’s] duty to avoid such wastage of scares public resources?’ Boesak said.The CP proposed an election indaba which should be attended by the ECN, all political parties and civil and non-governmental organisations.They believe such a conference will strengthen the integrity and independence of the ECN and other oversight bodies in the elections.’As things stand now, we will see a large rate of voter apathy in the coming elections,’ the party said.They questioned the ECN mandate to monitor the full disclosure of private funding (foreign and local) of political parties as well as monitor the activities of party-owned companies which cannot be allowed to benefit from State tenders.The party warned the ECN not to take their demands and viewpoint lightly.’The Communist Party will not break its comradely relationship with the masses by hoodwinking them into fraudulent elections. If other political parties want to participate, let them do so at their own peril and let history be the judge as to who is the comrade and who is the con-rade,’ the party said.Formerly known as the Workers’ Revolutionary Party, the CP collected 810 votes during last year’s National Assembly election, the least of all 14 parties in the race. Their presidential candidate, Attie Beukes, had 1005 votes.
