Opposition parties demand early announcement of election date

OPPOSITION parties have demanded an early announcement of the date of this year’s presidential and national elections.

They also want to receive the voters’ roll at least 30 days before the elections, and feel that voting should be limited to one day only.’State media should give equal coverage to all parties, President Hifikepunye Pohamba must announce [the] election date without further delay, political parties should have access to [the] final voters’ roll at least 30 days before elections and voting should only take place on one day,’ six political parties, who held a workshop over the weekend outside Windhoek, said in a communiqué issued yesterday.The parties are the RDP, RP, Swanu, DTA, DPN and APP.’Representatives of the above alternative parties in Namibia deliberated on how Namibia can conduct free, fair, transparent and credible elections and on how to avoid or minimise irregularities as experienced in past four elections in Namibia and other African countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe. ‘We noted with disappointment the passing of the Electoral Amendment Bill, which was rushed through by Swapo in both houses without proper consultation with stakeholders and does not fully comply with SADC (election) principles,’ the communiqué stated.’For the outcomes of the elections to be free, fair and credible, we demand equal state media coverage for all parties as per SADC principles, an election tribunal be set up, headed by a retired judge to resolve electoral disputes that may arise during the elections as per SADC principles,’ the six parties demanded.Taking a swipe at the Swapo-owned printing company NamPrint, which has printed all ballot papers since Independence, the parties stated that ‘ballot papers should not to be printed by any company owned by a political party in Namibia and the number of ballot papers to be printed should be made public.’ They also want adequate polling stations to be provided and be known by political parties well in advance and that the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) facilitate urgent revision of the electoral Code of Conduct ‘in order to strengthen it and make it enforceable.’They also want the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide national IDs to all eligible Namibians so as to avoid voter registration by means of sworn statements and declarations. Just recently the RDP party showed documents to the media, claiming the ECN had registered an Angolan national as a Namibian voter.