RP withdraws court case against ECN

THE Republican Party (RP) has withdrawn its high court case against the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), which dates from 2005, the party’s president Henk Mudge announced yesterday.

‘We are the last of all the opposition parties left with regard to the 2005 case and we withdraw now due to financial constraints,’ Mudge told reporters.
Opposition parties had then won a court order that the election results had to be counted again after allegations of rigging and irregularities.
‘In his ruling in March 2005, the judge decided against a re-election and instead ordered a re-count of the votes of the November 2004 election and the ECN was instructed by the court to arrange for an immediate recount but the result was the virtually the same,’ Mudge added.
His party had collected enough evidence and proof during the recount that 39 of the 108 constituencies were not recounted during that exercise and wanted to head for a court interdict.
‘On the advice of our lawyers, we decided not to go for an interdict to have the announcement declared null and void in March 2005, but to include the evidence in our case that was still ongoing. I personally feel that was a big mistake, because we have solid evidence that the votes of only 69 of the 108 constituencies were recounted. How on earth was it possible for the ECN to announce the results when 36 per cent of the constituencies’ votes were not recounted?’ Mudge asked yesterday.
‘We will however approach the (high) court with that evidence at our disposal to prove that the 2005 recount was a total farce and we expect the judge in that case, currently Judge President Petrus Damaseb, to have our allegations investigated and if they prove to be true, then to hold the ECN in contempt of court.’
Now we are standing at the eve of yet another general election and the RP will never again allow this Swapo government with their close ally, the ECN, to fool the citizens of Namibia ever again. We will insist that the upcoming elections be transparent, free and fair and should that not be the case, we will once again approach the courts to ensure that justice will prevail,’ Mudge added.
It appeared as if opposition parties had a totally different definition than Swapo and the ECN, Mudge stated, adding that in his view all elections since 1989 were allegedly rigged.
He proposed that a temporary tribunal should be established during the next elections chaired by an active or retired judge so that aggrieved participating political parties could challenge the outcome of an election result. The tribunal would make according rulings. The legal costs should be carried by the State.