Elections held in Namibia last Wednesday were conducted in
a peaceful and free atmosphere and the environment enabled voters to express
themselves in a transparent manner, Sadc has said.
President Mnangagwa, in his capacity as chairperson of the
Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, constituted the Sadc
Electoral Observer Mission (SEOM) to the elections in Namibia which deployed 59
observers in all the country’s 14 provinces.
Presenting a preliminary statement on the elections,
Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, who headed
the mission, commended the Electoral Commission of Namibia for the professional
manner in which it conducted the elections.
Namibia’s incumbent President Hage Geinbob of the ruling SWAPO party
secured a second term after winning 56,3 percent of the vote. He defeated his
close rival, Mr Panduleni Itula, an independent candidate who received 29,4
percent of the vote. The official opposition candidate, Mr McHenry Venaani of
the Popular Democratic Movement, finished third with 5,3 percent.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri, who was flanked by Cde Patrick
Chinamasa and the Sadc Executive Secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax when she
presented the statement, also praised Namibians for the political maturity
demonstrated during the electoral process.
“The political and security environment in the pre-election
and election period was calm and peaceful, with no visible political and
security risk that could adversely affect the conduct of the election. National
Voter Registration for constituencies was completed and verified without
incident,” she said.
“These campaigns were by and large conducted peacefully.
The police maintained a visible and discrete security presence at all campaign
events that the mission observed and did not interfere with proceedings.
Furthermore, events observed were largely in compliance with the laws of the
country save for a few isolated incidents reported by stake- holders.”
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said they observed that the ECN
was well prepared for the elections and “generally discharged” its mandate in
accordance with the Constitution and Electoral Law of Namibia.
“The mission noted that the ECN generally complied with the
country’s electoral laws and the electoral system in the execution of its
duties. Furthermore, political parties generally showed respect for the
country’s electoral laws and conducted their campaigns with due regard to the
rule of law,” she said.
Namibia was using the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) for
the second time since the 2014 elections.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said although they noted
allegations by some stakeholders that some members of the ECN were partisan, no
substantive evidence was provided to support these claims.
She said the observer mission recommended that the National
Assembly should consider amending the Electoral Act to ensure that the votes
from special voting are counted together with those from the main election to
minimise speculation and undue influence on voters.
In the legislative vote to choose 96 Members of Parliament,
the ruling party lost its two-thirds majority after it secured 63 seats, down
from 77, while the Popular Democratic Movement got 16 seats, an improvement
from five seats in the previous general election in 2014.
Namibians went to the polls on November 27 to elect a
president and National Assembly members.
SEOM is in Namibia at the invitation of the ECN and in line
with the Sadc Treaty, and Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security
Co-operation and the regional bloc’s revised principles and guidelines
governing democratic elections.
SEOM will issue its final report within 30 days of the
conclusion of the electoral cycle in accordance with the revised Sadc
principles and guidelines governing democratic
elections.
The release of the Sadc preliminary statement was held in
conjunction with the African Union Electoral Observation Mission (AUEOM),
headed by former of Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma, the Commonwealth
Electoral Observation Mission headed by Mr Musa Mwenye, former Attorney-General
of the Republic of Zambia; and the Electoral Commissions Forum of Sadc
Countries (ECF-SADC) headed by Mr Emmanuel Magade, deputy chairperson of the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
The SEOM to the 2019 Namibian elections consists of a total
of 53 personnel from eight Sadc countries. Herald
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