Staff Reporter
THE Landless People’s Movement (LPM) political party has filed court documents notifying that it will take the Electoral Commission of Namibia and other parties to court in an attempt to open, copy, and/or inspect the contents of the electoral materials pertaining to the 2024 National Assembly Elections for each polling station for the period of 13 and 27 November 2024.
The application, which will be before the court on Monday, 16 December 2024, is the second of its kind, following the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) also filing notice of motion documents of a similar nature.
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), the Chief Electoral Officer as the Executive Officer of the ECN, the President of the Republic of Namibia, and the Attorney-General of the Republic of Namibia are listed as respondents in the matter.
In the urgent application filed to the Electoral Court of Namibia, the LPM seeks the granting of leave and/or permission to open, copy, and/or inspect the contents of the electoral materials pertaining to the 2024 National Assembly Elections for each polling station for the period of 13 and 27 November 2024, from 07:00 to 21:00, and/or the finalisation of the counting of votes cast on both these days, pursuant to Proclamation No. 28 in Government Gazette 28 September 2024 No. 8454.
The party seeks relief in respect of both 13 and 27 November 2024, to open, copy, and/or inspect for each polling station the total number of votes cast, the number of spoilt ballots, the number of ‘tendered votes’, and the total number of votes counted.
Bernadus Swartbooi, President of the LPM, which garnered the majority of votes in the //Kharas region, explained that the LPM is aggrieved by the conduct and outcome of the recently concluded elections for Members of the National Assembly in November 2024, and that it requires Chapter 3 information for the purpose of an election challenge as defined in section 1 of the 2014 Act.
He argued that the power to amend the election day and period was exercised in violation of the relevant legal instruments by the President.
“By way of the amendment proclamation, the President purported not only to extend the day of polling but also to establish and publish polling stations. Thus, the President not only acted ultra vires in respect of the amendment and extension, but his conduct also constitutes gerrymandering, whether deliberately or through its effect.
“Further/alternatively, the purpose of declaring voting day a public holiday was defeated when the polling day was extended because the day of 28 November 2024 was not declared a public holiday to facilitate the exercise of a constitutional right to vote by eligible voters,” Swartbooi said.
He added that to have announced on 28 November 2024 that the polling day was extended from 21:00 the day before was unlawful because the poll closed at 21:00 on 27 November 2024 and could not thereafter, only on 28 November 2024, legally be “extended”.
“The extension notified on 28 November 2024 is prohibited by section 64(3)(a) of the Act. Consequently, there could not be a lawful poll conducted on 28, 29, and 30 November 2024. The information sought in Order 8 of the Notice of Motion is relevant to determine the rationality and/or lawfulness of the President’s decision,” Swartbooi said.
He added that there were clearly irregularities in the election and that the LPM seeks the information in order, inter alia, to determine the extent of the irregularities.
“That is its right. It also enables the applicant to consider whether to launch proceedings concerning the validity of the elections. Without the information, the applicant will be prevented from testing the materiality of those irregularities to the outcome of the elections, and thus limits or potentially limits the applicant’s ability to test the unlawfulness surrounding the election,” Swartbooi said.
He further said that the schedule to the President’s amended proclamation not only limited the right of people to vote but was also unlawful because he had no right to extend the election, establish polling stations, and then publish the same.
