Political Perspective

WITH the polling days in our 2009 presidential and National Assembly elections now virtually upon us, we already need to start taking stock of the whole process that has preceded the ballot with a view to ensuring that the same mistakes – which at the end of the day can make the difference between a free and fair contest and one that is not – are not repeated again in future.

EVEN allowing for the unexpected, it is probably safe to say that the overall outcome as far as the winner is concerned will be as expected, bar the fact that there may be a few shifts, perhaps even significant ones. Whether or not the result has been impacted by a strained and tense electoral campaign characterised by occasional outbreaks of violence will be a matter for researchers and analysts to look into after the election is over, but what we will really need to focus on as a matter of urgency is how to create a more conducive election environment in future.All the emotional upheaval, bordering on violence, particularly between the two key parties, Swapo and Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), will probably be a thing of the past come December and suddenly it won’t be quite as much of an issue if one supports the opposition, particularly if Swapo has another decisive win under its belt by that time.And we might be able to say that despite some of the unpleasantness and intimidation which was particularly manifest in the build-up to the elections over the past year or so, the election generally speaking has been free and fair. But this is not good enough.We cannot simply toss aside the months of unacceptable intimidation of opposition, the witch-hunts for the ‘hibernators’ in all its forms, as well as the lack of tolerance, and we cannot allow these kinds of sentiments to again rear their head by the time the next national and presidential elections come around in 2014. Hopefully by that stage all Namibians, regardless of their political affiliation, will accept opposition as an integral component of democracy and will not question the rights of those who choose not to go with the mainstream.An atmosphere of fear is not something Namibians should be expected to live with, having fought to liberate ourselves from that very form of oppression. And abuse of power on the part of any government to this end must be roundly condemned because it has severe impact on rights that Namibians are guaranteed by their own Constitution.And an election contest must be a fair fight, and the playing field levelled as much as is possible, particularly given that a ruling party, any ruling party, generally has an advantage because of its control of government, and therefore has more ‘muscle’ than most of the other competitors.That having been said, it is up to the ruling party not to abuse their position of power, and up to the smaller parties to create their own place in the sun over time. They cannot expect, simply by virtue of having set up a political party, to get handouts to make themselves forces to be reckoned with. They have to earn the support of the electorate, and the best way to do that is to work with them, from the time of this election to the next, and not only conveniently a few months before the polls. They also have to work on incisive policies and programmes (some of the manifestos are downright shoddy) and attracting voters because of these and outstanding leadership qualities.The electorate has to evolve too. Certainly the ruling party has at its disposal gestures, such as were made this week conveniently close to polling day, of for example handing out 4×4 vehicles to traditional leaders. A discerning electorate would know that it is the taxpayers of this country, rather than Swapo, who have footed this bill, and therefore, even if it is intended to impress, it should not have the desired effect because our people are not that gullible.In the pre-Independence era, the DTA would try to lure people to their rallies by free food and drinks, and although the former South African regime spent large amounts of money to this end, it didn’t win them the election come Independence because people were not naive. Our electorate is also fairly wise to the process of buying votes because of our past.We have to work primarily on the issue of tolerance for the next elections. We have to let people know that it is OK to make up your own mind. There is nothing to prevent those who belong to one party from voting for another. We should not be driving political opposition underground by making it seem unpatriotic not to support the government of the day. This is clearly unacceptable and yet has left an indelible imprint on the current election process.It is also vitally important for us to ensure that the Electoral Commission gets it right in future. It is a permanent body which should not rest on its laurels once these elections are done and dusted, but should actively work on keeping the voters roll up to date and ensuring that voter education isn’t just a last-minute afterthought, but an ongoing process to prepare the country well in advance of the next national ballot.Democracy is always a learning process, and 20 years on, we should have made advances in this regard. Our people are not yet fully emancipated enough to have made of this democratic exercise a fault-free one, but hopefully we can ensure that it will happen in the future.