Election crisis unfolds in Namibia as opposition leader refuses to recognise result

Namibia’s top opposition presidential candidate, Panduleni Itula, said Saturday that his party would not recognise the results of a controversially extended election marred by chaos and allegations of foul play.

Speaking just before the close of polls on the final day of voting, Itula, whose Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is hoping to end 34 years of rule by the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), said that no matter the result, “the IPC shall not recognise the outcome of that election”.

“The rule of law has been grossly violated and we cannot call these elections by any means or measure as free, fair and legitimate,” said Itula, who finished second in the 2019 vote.

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With just 10 of the country’s 121 constituencies counted, partial results showed SWAPO’s candidate, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, leading with 48 percent of the vote, followed by Itula with 29 percent.

Electoral authorities decided to prolong voting in the presidential and legislative polls, after the original election day – Wednesday – was marred by logistical and technical failures that led to hours-long queues, which some voters eventually abandoned.

Opposition parties have complained about the chaos and alleged voter suppression by the authorities in the face of a strong turnout for the ruling party’s rivals.

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An organisation of southern African human rights lawyers serving as election monitors said that the delays at the ballot box were intentional and widespread.

“There were deliberate delays of voting processes in more than 63 percent of the total polling stations across the country,” the lawyers said in a report.

Itula said that the IPC would “fight… to nullify the elections through the processes that are established within our electoral process”, calling on Namibia’s President Nangolo Mbumba to call a cabinet meeting “to determine exactly what should be done”.

Namibians ‘betrayed’

On Saturday, hundreds of people queued up at the sole polling station in the capital Windhoek, where some 2,500 voters had cast their ballots on Friday.

Sielfriedt Gowaseb, 27, managed to vote in less than 30 minutes on Saturday but was critical of the arrangements.

“They should have set up at least another polling station where the majority of Namibians live. We would have needed more venues, one in the suburbs. Most Namibians don’t live in the central business district,” he said.

Namibia’s opposition is hoping to unseat SWAPO, which is facing its toughest challenge ever as disenchanted younger voters across southern Africa reject traditionally dominant liberation-era parties.

SWAPO has governed Namibia since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, but high youth unemployment and enduring inequalities have eroded its support.

Around 42 percent of the 1.5 million registered voters are aged under 35.

Naita Hishoono, executive director of the Namibia Institute for Democracy, a nonpartisan group, echoed popular dissatisfaction.

“It would have been helpful to open more than 36 polling stations… each constituency should have at least one polling station open to accommodate everybody. Every voter should only stay half an hour to an hour in line and the whole voting process should take no more than 15 minutes,” she said.

SWAPO’s Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, could become the first woman to lead the country if she is elected.

But she is facing a fierce challenge from Itula, who said that Namibia had been “betrayed” by the electoral authority’s incompetence.

The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has admitted to failures in the organisation of the vote, including a shortage of ballot papers and the overheating of electronic tablets used to register voters.

Itula, a former dentist and lawyer, came second in the last presidential election with 29 percent of the vote while standing as an independent.

That performance was all the more remarkable for the fact it reduced SWAPO leader Hage Geingob’s vote share to just 56 percent.

Geingob, who died in February, had won nearly 87 percent five years before that.