POLITICS-NAMIBIA: Vote Recount Creates New Tension

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Henning Hintze

WINDHOEK, Mar 19 2005 (IPS) - Many Namibians are irritated or confused about the real results of their country’s parliamentary elections. Short before the main television news of the national broadcaster, the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Mar. 16, the Electoral Commission had announced the surprising results of the election recount.

The massage was that everything was in order and that the allocation of seats in the National Assemby remained exactly the same as announced in November after the first counting.

When four opposition parties on the following day accused the Electoral Commission of corrupt practices and strongly rejected the results of the recount the national broadcaster ignored this. It was only the newspapers Friday which reported about very serious complaints of the opposition parties.

Namibia seemed to prove another time its reputation as a democratic country in Africa when the High Court in the capital Windhoek ordered on an application of two opposition parties, the Congress of Democrats (CoD) and the Republican Party (RP), a recount of all parliamentary votes within 10 days.

The court had seen too much evidence of irregularities to just give its blessing to these faulty practices. The three judges even ruled that the Electoral Commission has to cover all costs for the court case.

There was widespread excitement when the recount finally started Mar. 13 afternoon. All parties had sent observers to ensure a fair recount.

Without the formerly agreed consultations with all political parties the Electoral Commission then on Mar. 16 announced the result of its recount. The allocation of seats unchanged, some negligiable changes of total votes for the parties: CoD minus 1, the ruling South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) minus 178, the Democratic Turnhale Alliance (DTA) plus 356, Republican Party plus 222.

When the opposition parties, whose counting agents had observed a number of substantial changes during the recount process, heard the new result they were first of all speechless. This was not immediately noticed, however, as the NBC did not ask them for their opinion.

The Congress of Democrats and the Republican Party worked hard to present their own findings in a news conference next day. They did, however, not manage to complete it. But they presented at least a number of observations which raise very serious doubts on the entire recount. They reported, amongst others, a lack of verification documents and boxes not sealed in the prescribed metal boxes and accused the Electoral Commission of allowing SWAPO to drive the recount process. A counting agent of the RP witnessed a widespread mixing of tendered ballots and ordinary votes which have according to the Electoral Act to be counted separately.

Ben Ulenga, the former SWAPO legislator and founding president of the Congress of Democrats, demanded the immediate dismissal of Election director Phillemon Kanime and the whole Electoral Commission. He said they had proved total incompetence and could not be trusted as custodians of the votes of the Nambian people.

Ulenga urged that the (election) law is revised in order “to be in line with the SADC Protocol on Elections”.

He was referring to the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Free and Fair Elections signed by all 13 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius in August 2004.

Namibia, as a member of SADC, also signed the agreement and committed itself to implementing its standards.

The SADC principles and guidelines call for, amongst others, the full participation of the citizens in the political process, freedom of association, political tolerance and the creation of a conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections.

Unwilling to accept the recount results, Carola Engelbrecht, Secretary General of the Republican Party, stated: ’’One wonders what data were used to come up with these election results.’’ Apparently the results were “fabricated”.

Kala Gertze, the Secretary General of CoD, made public that Henk Mudge, the RP leader had at one stage even been thrown out of a meeting by a police officer on request by the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Victor Tonchi. Gertze claimed that members of intelligence organisation had apparently masterminded the process.

One area of sharp disagreement between the opposition parties and the Electoral Commission and SWAPO were 40 ballot boxes from the Ohangwena region, a stronghold of SWAPO. Mysteriously these 40 ballot boxes – it is estimated that each of it can contain up to a maximum of 2,000 votes – contained wet ballot papers where in many cases an important stamp was washed away. This stamp, however, is required by law for any valid vote.

According to Gertze, SWAPO insisted that these ballots must be counted as long as the cross for the party was visible, but the opposition parties refused to agree to act against the law. The Electoral Commission, however, decided to count these votes except 935.

The CoD and RP immediately entered into consultations with their lawyers on possible legal action against the results of the recount. However, both parties decided not to boycott the swearing-in of the new members of the National Assembly on Mar. 19.

They both insist that this does not mean that they accept the results as fair but it seems highly questionable if they can still challenge these results once they have been sworn in. The CoD will take up five seats and become the official opposition, the RP one.

One argument did certainly influence the decision to accept the swearing-in ceremony. Since the five-year term of the current parliament ends Mar. 21 an interdict against the swearing in of the new parliament would have created some sort of constitional dilemma.

Amongst the membership in both opposition parties there was fear that 75-year-old outgoing president Sam Nujoma might use this situation not to hand over his office Monday to president-elect Hifikepunye Pohamba. Any further stay of Nujoma, who has ruled Namibia since independence in 1990, is considered as the worse and more dangerous option.

But there are others who argue that both opposition parties will lose credibility if they say on the one hand the results of the recount are unacceptable but allow some days later the new parliament to be sworn in.