Staff Reporter
THE Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has dismissed as unfounded and malicious the recent allegations by the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) that the electoral body deliberately blocked the opposition party’s nominations for a number of local authority councils in the Hardap and Karas regions.
Peter Shaama, the ECN’s Chief Executive Officer, said the LPM’s accusations are full of inaccuracies, are malicious, and represent a deliberate attempt to discredit the integrity of the electoral process.
Shaama said that at the close of nominations at 11:00 on the 16th of October, the LPM did not submit nominations for Rehoboth, Tses, Lüderitz, Bethanie, Stampriet, Aranos and Berseba.
Shaama said that the allegations that the LPM was deliberately excluded are unfounded. He reaffirmed that the ECN’s actions throughout the nomination period for the Regional Councils and Local Authorities elections were strictly conducted in accordance with the law, ensuring impartiality and adherence to established procedures.
According to him, the use of the Political Party and Candidate Management (PPCM) system, which was introduced last year as an administrative tool designed to assist the ECN, political parties and candidates in streamlining the nomination process, reducing paperwork, and enhancing due diligence, has proved efficient and successfully facilitated the nominations submitted by all other political parties, organisations and independent candidates contesting the 2025 elections in all 121 constituencies and 59 local authorities.
Nominations for the November elections commenced on 26 September and culminated in the public sitting day on the 16th of October. The mandatory deadline for submissions was 11:00 that day.
According to Shaama, statutory requirements dictate that nomination lists must be submitted to the respective Returning Officers for the local authority area concerned, and the ECN head office served only as a help desk to address queries. ECN staff there were not legally mandated to accept official nomination forms.
Shaama said the LPM did successfully submit nominations for some regional councils’ elections and some local authorities’ elections that were ready by the 11:00 deadline on 16 October. However, some of LPM’s local authorities’ submissions were non-compliant in that they failed to meet the legal requirement concerning gender proportionality or the allocation of the correct number of candidates as required by law.
Shaama explained that he, recognising the time-sensitive nature of rectifying identified errors, formally communicated an extension to all affected political parties, organisations, associations and candidates, including LPM. “This extension allowed for rectification until 15:00 on 17 October 2025,” he said, adding that the LPM, as one of the affected parties, managed to correct errors identified in nominations for 18 out of 20 local authorities.
“This fact confirms that the LPM utilised and benefitted from the administrative mechanisms put in place by the Commission and subsequently complied where they chose to do so,” he added.
He revealed that meetings were held with LPM representatives on 22 and 28 October, subsequent to the legal deadlines, which were intended to provide further clarification.
He said: “The Commission maintains that its officials acted with professionalism, courtesy and decorum at all times when engaging parties seeking assistance at the help desk. Claims of system failure or intentional administrative obstruction are baseless speculation and hearsay.
“The Electoral Commission maintains its commitment to executing a transparent, independent and lawful election process. We warn all political entities against making deliberately inaccurate and malicious statements intended to undermine public faith and the integrity of the electoral institutions.”
Picture for illustrative purposes only.
